May 6: Arrest of Duval d'Eprémesnil, member of the Paris Parlement, for leading resistance to royal absolutism. (Popkin 94)

Tags: French Revolution, Paris Parlement, Royal Absolutism, Political Opposition, Arrest, Pre-Revolutionary France, Resistance, Judicial System, Legal Disputes

June 7: Day of the Tiles in Grenoble, first revolt against the king.

Tags: French Revolution, Rebellion, Protest, Riots, Grenoble, Pre-Revolution, Popular Uprising, Local Resistance, Royal Authority

July 21: Assembly of Vizille, assembly of the Estates-General of Dauphiné.

Tags: Estates-General, Dauphiné, Assembly, Pre-Revolution, Regional Politics, Political Gathering, Third Estate, Nobility, Clergy, French Revolution (Pre-1789)

August 8: The royal treasury is declared empty, and the Parlement of Paris refuses to reform the tax system or loan the Crown more money. To win their...

Tags: Financial Crisis, Estates-General, Brienne, Taxation, Royal Finances, Parlement of Paris, Political Reform, Pre-Revolution, French Monarchy, Assembly

August 16: The treasury suspends payments on the debts of the government.

Tags: French Revolution, Financial Crisis, Debt, Government Debt, Bankruptcy, Economic Crisis, Fiscal Policy, Pre-Revolution, Ancien Régime, Economic Hardship

August 25: Brienne resigns as Minister of Finance, and is replaced by the Swiss banker Jacques Necker, who is popular with the Third Estate. French ba...

Tags: Necker, Finance, Loans, Estates General, Third Estate, Bankruptcy, Economic Crisis, French Revolution, Brienne

December 27: Over the opposition of the nobles, Necker announces that the representation of the Third Estate will be doubled and that nobles and cler...

Tags: Estates-General, Third Estate, Necker, Representation, Nobility, Clergy, Political Reform, Pre-Revolution

January: The Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes a pamphlet, What is the Third Estate? he writes; "What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has i...

Tags: Third Estate, Sieyès, Pamphlet, Enlightenment, Political Philosophy, Representation, Social Class, Revolutionary Ideas, French Revolution, Political Discourse

January 24: King Louis XVI convokes elections for delegates to the Estates-General

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, Estates-General, Elections, Political Reform, Pre-Revolution, Monarchy, France, 18th Century

April 27: Riots in Paris by workers of the Réveillon wallpaper factory in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Twenty-five workers were killed in battles with ...

Tags: French Revolution, Social Unrest, Workers' Rights, Paris, Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Riots, Class Conflict, Violence, Early Revolution

May 2: Presentation to the King of the Deputies of the Estates-General at Versailles. The clergy and nobles are welcomed with formal ceremonies and pr...

Tags: Estates-General, Versailles, Third Estate, Ceremony, Social Hierarchy, Political Tension, Representation, French Monarchy, Pre-Revolution, Privilege

May 5: Formal opening of the Estates-General at Versailles.

Tags: Estates-General, Versailles, French Monarchy, Assembly, Political Crisis, Representation, Third Estate, Pre-Revolution, Parliamentary Body, Social Unrest

May 6: The Deputies of the Third Estate refuses to meet separately from the other Estates, occupy the main hall, and invite the clergy and nobility to...

Tags: Third Estate, Estates-General, National Assembly, Representation, Political Reform, Voting Rights, Clergy, Nobility, Revolutionary Action, Constitutionalism

May 11: The nobility refuses to meet together with the Third Estate, but the clergy hesitates, and suspends the verification of its deputies.

Tags: Estates-General, Third Estate, Nobility, Clergy, Voting Procedures, Political Deadlock, Pre-Revolution, Social Tensions, French Revolution (early stages)

May 20: The clergy renounces its special tax privileges, and accepts the principle of fiscal equality.

Tags: clergy, taxation, fiscal policy, privileges, Estates-General, financial reform, equality, Revolutionary reforms, Church, French Revolution

May 22: The nobility renounces its special tax privileges. However, the three estates are unable to agree on a common program.

Tags: Estates General, Nobility, Taxation, Privileges, Inequality, Political Deadlock, French Revolution, Social Reform, Assembly, Early Revolution

May 25: The Third Estate deputies from Paris, delayed by election procedures, arrive in Versailles.

Tags: Third Estate, Paris, Versailles, Estates-General, Deputies, Representation, Election, Assembly, Political Gathering

June 3: The scientist Jean Sylvain Bailly is chosen the leader of the Third Estate deputies.

Tags: French Revolution, Third Estate, Leadership, Assembly, Politics, Representative Government, Bailly, Estates-General, 1789

June 4: Upon the death of seven-year-old Louis Joseph Xavier François, Dauphin of France, the eldest son and heir of Louis XVI, his four-year-old brot...

Tags: French Monarchy, Succession, Royal Family, Dauphin, Louis XVI, Pre-Revolution, Royalty, Children

June 6: The deputies of the nobility reject a compromise program proposed by finance minister Jacques Necker.

Tags: French Revolution, Estates-General, Nobility, Necker, Political Stalemate, Compromise, Social Tensions, Pre-Revolution, Class Conflict

June 10: At the suggestion of Sieyès, the Third Estate deputies decide to hold their own meeting, and invite the other Estates to join them.

Tags: Third Estate, Estates-General, Sieyès, Deputies, Political Assembly, French Revolution, National Assembly (precursor), Constitutionalism, Voting Rights

June 13–14: Nine deputies from the clergy decide to join the meeting of the Third Estate.

Tags: Third Estate, Clergy, Estates-General, National Assembly, Political Alignment, Revolution, French Revolution, Constitutionalism

June 17: On the proposal of Sieyès, the deputies of the Third Estate declare themselves the National Assembly. To ensure popular support, they decree ...

Tags: French Revolution, National Assembly, Third Estate, Sieyès, Representation, Taxation, Political Reform, Estates-General

June 19: By a vote of 149 to 137, the deputies of the clergy join the assembly of the Third Estate.

Tags: National Assembly, Clergy, Third Estate, Estates-General, French Revolution, Political Alignment, Revolutionary Politics, Voting, Unity

June 20: On the orders of Louis XVI, the meeting hall of the Third Estate is closed and locked. At the suggestion of Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the ...

Tags: French Revolution, Third Estate, National Assembly, Tennis Court Oath, Louis XVI, Constitution, Assembly, Deputies, Political Crisis

June 21: The Royal Council rejects the financial program of Minister Necker.

Tags: French Revolution, Finance, Necker, Royal Council, Economic Policy, Deficit, Taxation, Estates-General

June 22: The new National Assembly meets in the church of Saint Louis in Versailles. One hundred fifty deputies from the clergy attend, along with two...

Tags: National Assembly, Versailles, Clergy, Nobility, Third Estate, Estates-General, French Revolution, Political Gathering, Early Revolution

June 23: Louis XVI personally addresses the Estates-General (a Séance royale), where he invalidates the decisions of the National Assembly and instruc...

Tags: French Revolution, Estates-General, Louis XVI, National Assembly, Mirabeau, Royal Authority, Third Estate, Political Crisis, Declaration of Independence (implied), Defiance

June 25: 48 nobles, headed by Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, join the Assembly.

Tags: French Revolution, National Assembly, Nobility, Aristocracy, Political Alignment, Social Change, Estates-General, Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orleans

June 27: Louis XVI reverses course, instructs the nobility and clergy to meet with the other estates, and recognizes the new Assembly. At the same tim...

Tags: Louis XVI, National Assembly, Estates-General, Political Maneuvering, Monarchy, Military Deployment, Mercenaries, French Revolution, Constitutional Crisis

June 30: A crowd invades the prison of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and liberates soldiers who had been imprisoned for attending meetings of po...

Tags: French Revolution, Popular Uprising, Prison, Soldiers, Political Clubs, Paris, 1789, Liberty, Violence, Early Revolution

July 6: The National Assembly forms a committee of thirty members to write a new Constitution.

Tags: French Revolution, National Assembly, Constitution, Constitutionalism, Politics, Legislature, Committee, Government Reform, Political Institutions

July 8: As tensions mount, the Comte de Mirabeau, Third-Estate deputy from Aix, demands that the Gardes Françaises of the military household of the ki...

Tags: Mirabeau, Third Estate, Paris, National Guard, Royal Troops, Military Presence, Civil Unrest, Political Reform, French Revolution, 1789

July 9: The National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly.

Tags: National Assembly, Constituent Assembly, French Revolution, Political Reform, Constitution, Declaration of the Rights of Man, Parliament, Legislative Body, Third Estate

July 11: Louis XVI abruptly dismisses Necker. Parisians respond by burning the unpopular customs barriers, and invading and looting the monastery of t...

Tags: Necker, Dismissal, Paris, Riots, Tuileries, Royal-Allemand, Garde Française, Popular Uprising, French Revolution, Pre-Bastille

July 13: The National Assembly declares itself in permanent session. At the Hôtel de Ville, city leaders begin to form a governing committee and an ar...

Tags: National Assembly, Paris, Governing Committee, Militia, Revolution, Political Organization, French Revolution, City Governance, Permanent Session

July 14: Storming of the Bastille. A large armed crowd besieges the Bastille, which holds only seven prisoners but has a large supply of gunpowder, wh...

Tags: French Revolution, Paris, Bastille, Uprising, Violence, Rebellion, Popular Uprising, Prison, Armed Conflict, Mob Violence

July 15: The astronomer and mathematician Jean Sylvain Bailly is named mayor of Paris, and Lafayette is appointed Commander of the newly formed Nation...

Tags: Paris, Mayor, National Guard, Lafayette, Bailly, French Revolution, Political Appointment, Governance, Revolutionary Government, 18th Century

July 16: The King reinstates Necker as finance minister and withdraws royal troops from the center of the city. The new elected Paris assembly votes t...

Tags: French Revolution, Politics, King Louis XVI, Necker, Bastille, Paris, National Assembly, Local Militias, Financial Crisis

July 17: The King visits Paris, where he is welcomed at the Hôtel de Ville by Bailly and Lafayette, and wears the tricolor cockade. Sensing what is ah...

Tags: Monarchy, Paris, Emigration, Tricolor, National Assembly, Louis XVI, Nobility, Counter-Revolution, French Revolution

July 18: Camille Desmoulins begins publication of 'La France libre', demanding a much more radical revolution and calling for a republic arguing that ...

Tags: French Revolution, Camille Desmoulins, Republicanism, Political Pamphlet, Radicalization, Political Discourse, Freedom of the Press, Republic, Justification of Violence

July 21 – August 14: the Great Fear: Riots and peasant revolts in Strasbourg (July 21), Le Mans (July 23), Colmar, Alsace, and Hainaut (July 25).

Tags: Great Fear, Peasant Revolt, Riots, Social Unrest, French Revolution, Alsace, Food Shortages, Anarchy, Rural France

July 22: An armed mob on the Place de Grève massacres Berthier de Sauvigny, Intendant of Paris, and his father-in-law, accused of speculating in grain...

Tags: French Revolution, Paris, Mob Violence, Atrocity, Grain Shortage, Food Crisis, Popular Uprising, Execution, Intendant, Revolutionary Violence

July 28: Jacques Pierre Brissot begins publication of Le Patriote français, an influential newspaper of the revolutionary movement known as the Girond...

Tags: French Revolution, Journalism, Propaganda, Girondins, Press, Political Discourse, Information, Public Opinion, Revolutionary Ideas, Society

August 4: The King appoints a government of reformist ministers around Necker. August Decrees: The Assembly votes to abolish the privileges and feudal...

Tags: French Revolution, August Decrees, Feudalism, Nobility, Privileges, Assembly, Reform, Monarchy, Necker, Political Reform

August Decrees: The Assembly votes to abolish the privileges and feudal rights of the nobility.

Tags: French Revolution, Feudalism, Nobility, Privileges, National Assembly, Equality, Abolition, Legal Reform, Social Change

August 7: Publication of "A plot uncovered to lull the people to sleep" by Jean-Paul Marat, denouncing the reforms of August 4 as insufficient and de...

Tags: Jean-Paul Marat, Radicalism, Sans-culottes, Political Pamphlet, August 4 Reforms, French Revolution, Public Opinion, Political Polarization, Revolutionary Journalism, Voice of the People

August 23: The Assembly proclaims freedom of religious opinions.

Tags: religious freedom, tolerance, Assembly, Declaration of Rights, secularism, Enlightenment, revolution, French Revolution, religious opinion, liberty

August 24: The Assembly proclaims freedom of speech.

Tags: French Revolution, Declaration of Rights, Liberty, Assembly, Freedom, Politics, Civil Rights, Enlightenment, Constitutionalism, Speech

August 27: The Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, drafted largely by Lafayette.

Tags: Declaration of Rights, Human Rights, French Revolution, National Assembly, Lafayette, Constitution, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Enlightenment

August 28: The Assembly debates giving the King the power to veto legislation.

Tags: National Assembly, Royal Veto, Legislative Power, King Louis XVI, Constitutional Monarchy, Debate, French Revolution, Political Reform, Power Struggle, Constitution

August 30: Camille Desmoulins organizes an uprising at the Palais-Royal to block the proposed veto for the King and to force the King to return to Par...

Tags: Camille Desmoulins, Palais-Royal, Uprising, Royal Veto, Paris, Popular Mobilization, Early Revolution, Political Instability, Failed Attempt, King's Authority

August 31: The Constitution Committee of the Assembly proposes a two-house parliament and a royal right of veto.

Tags: French Revolution, Constitution, Legislature, Royal Veto, National Assembly, Political Reform, Monarchy, Debate, Legislative Branch

September 9: The Mayor of Troyes is assassinated by a mob.

Tags: Violence, Mob Rule, Local Government, Assassination, French Revolution, Popular Uprising, Troyes, Anarchy, Political Instability, Reign of Terror (foreshadowing)

September 11: The National Assembly gives the King the power to temporarily veto laws for two legislative sessions.

Tags: Monarchy, National Assembly, Veto, Legislative Power, Constitutionalism, Royal Authority, Political Compromise, French Revolution, Constitution of 1791

September 15: Desmoulins publishes Discours de la lanterne aux Parisiens, a radical pamphlet justifying political violence and exalting the Parisian m...

Tags: French Revolution, Radicalism, Political Pamphlet, Violence, Mob Rule, Desmoulins, Paris, Propaganda, Public Opinion, Revolutionary Journalism

September 16: First issue of Jean Paul Marat's newspaper, L'Ami du peuple, proposing a radical social and political revolution.

Tags: French Revolution, Newspapers, Propaganda, Radicalism, Marat, Public Opinion, Political Discourse, Journalism, Revolutionary Ideals, Press

September 19: Election of a new municipal assembly in Paris, with three hundred members elected by districts.

Tags: Paris, Municipal Government, Elections, Local Government, Revolution, Assembly, Political Reform, District Representation, 1789

October 1: At the banquet des Gardes du Corps du Roi in Versailles, which Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and the Dauphin attended at dessert time, the Ki...

Tags: Versailles, Banquet, Royal Guard, Tricolor, Propaganda, Rumors, Public Opinion, Paris, Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI

October 5: Marat's newspaper demands a march on Versailles to protest the insult to the cocarde tricolor. Thousands of women take part in the march, ...

Tags: French Revolution, Women's March, Versailles, October Days, National Guard, Lafayette, Marat, Popular Protest, Political Pressure

October 6: After an orderly march, a crowd of women invade the Palace. The women demand that the King and his family accompany them back to Paris, and...

Tags: Women's March, Versailles, Paris, King Louis XVI, Royal Family, National Assembly, Popular Uprising, French Revolution, Social unrest, October Days

October 10: The Assembly names Lafayette commander of the regular army in and around Paris. The Assembly also modifies the royal title from "King of F...

Tags: French Revolution, Assembly, Lafayette, Army, Monarchy, Execution, Guillotine, Titles, Political Reform

October 12: Louis XVI secretly writes to king Charles IV of Spain, complaining of mistreatment. The Count of Artois secretly writes to Joseph II of Au...

Tags: Louis XVI, Count of Artois, Royal Correspondence, Foreign Intervention, Secret Negotiations, Monarchy, Counter-Revolution, Charles IV of Spain, Joseph II of Austria

October 19: The National Assembly holds its first meeting in Paris, in the chapel of the archbishop's residence next to Notre Dame Cathedral.

Tags: National Assembly, Paris, Meeting, Revolution, France, Notre Dame, Government, Politics, Constitutionalism

October 21: The Assembly declares a state of martial law to prevent future uprisings.

Tags: martial law, Assembly, uprisings, Paris, National Guard, repression, order, revolution, French Revolution, 1789

November 2: The Assembly votes to place property of the Church at the disposition of the Nation.

Tags: Nationalization, Church, Property, Confiscation, Revolution, Economy, Land Reform, Financial Crisis, Estates, Clergy

November 9: The Assembly moves to the Salle du Manège, the former riding school near the Tuileries Palace.

Tags: National Assembly, Legislature, Paris, Tuileries Palace, Assembly relocation, French Revolution, Government, Political institutions

November 28: First issue of Desmoulins' weekly Histoire des Révolutions de France et de Brabant, savagely attacking royalists and aristocrats.

Tags: French Revolution, Journalism, Propaganda, Political Satire, Radicalism, Royalists, Aristocrats, Press, Desmoulins

November: the Breton Club is reconstituted in Paris at the Saint-Honore monastery of Dominicans, who were more popularly known as Jacobins, under the ...

Tags: Jacobins, Political Clubs, Society, Constitution, Revolution, Paris, 1789, French Revolution, Ideology, Social Gathering

December 1: Revolt by the sailors of the French Navy in Toulon, who arrest Admiral d'Albert.

Tags: French Navy, Toulon, Mutiny, Sailors, Naval History, Military, Revolutionary France, Discipline, Revolt, D'Albert

December 9: The Assembly decides to divide France into departments, in place of the former provinces of France.

Tags: French Revolution, Administrative Reform, Departments, National Assembly, Decentralization, Territorial Organization, France, Political Restructuring

December 19: Introduction of the assignat, a form of currency based not on silver, but on the value of the property of the Church confiscated by the S...

Tags: currency, assignats, French Revolution, economic policy, confiscation, church property, financial crisis, paper money, inflation, revolutionary finance

January 7: Riot in Versailles demanding lower bread prices.

Tags: bread, food shortages, Versailles, prices, riot, popular unrest, economic hardship, French Revolution, 1790s, subsistence crisis

January 18: Marat publishes a fierce attack on finance minister Necker.

Tags: Marat, Necker, Journalism, Press, Pamphlet, Political Criticism, French Revolution, Propaganda, Public Opinion, Radicalism

January 22: Paris municipal police try to arrest Marat for his violent attacks on the government, but he is defended by a crowd of sans-culottes and e...

Tags: Marat, Sans-culottes, Arrest, Paris, Political Opposition, French Revolution, Freedom of Speech, Government, Radicalism

February 13: The Assembly forbids the taking of religious vows and suppresses the contemplative religious orders.

Tags: French Revolution, Religion, Church, Clergy, Religious Orders, Suppression, Secularization, Assembly, Vows

February 23: The Assembly requires curés (parish priests) in churches across France to read aloud the decrees of the Assembly.

Tags: Religion, Clergy, Decrees, Assembly, Church, Propaganda, Revolutionary Decrees, Public Announcement, France

February 28: The Assembly abolishes the requirement that army officers be members of the nobility.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Reform, Army, Officer Corps, Nobility, Equality, Social Change, Professionalization, Meritocracy

March 8: The Assembly decides to continue the institution of slavery in French colonies, but permits the establishment of colonial assemblies.

Tags: slavery, colonialism, French colonies, colonial assembly, human rights, abolitionism, social injustice, political decisions, French Revolution

March 12: The Assembly approves the sale of the property of the church by municipalities

Tags: Church Property, Nationalization, Land Reform, Economic Policy, Confiscation, Municipalities, Revolutionary Legislation, Assets, Finance

March 29: Pope Pius VI condemns the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in a secret consistory.

Tags: Religion, Catholic Church, Papacy, French Revolution, Declaration of the Rights of Man, Counter-Revolution, Church and State, Pius VI, Clergy

April 5 – June 10: A series of pro-catholic and anti-revolutionary riots in the French provinces; in Vannes (April 5), Nîmes (April 6), Toulouse (Apri...

Tags: French Revolution, Catholicism, Religious Conflict, Counter-Revolution, Riots, Anti-Clericalism, Vannes, Nîmes, Toulouse, Toulon, Avignon

April 17: Foundation of the Cordeliers club, which meets in the former convent of that name. It becomes one of the most vocal proponents of radical ch...

Tags: French Revolution, Clubs, Radicalism, Political Discourse, Public Opinion, Paris, Revolutionary Groups, Activism, Social Change

April 30: Riots in Marseille. Three forts are captured, and the commander of Fort Saint-Jean, the Chevalier de Beausset, is assassinated.

Tags: French Revolution, Riots, Marseille, Military, Violence, Assassination, Forts, Local Uprising, Regional Conflict

May 12: Lafayette and Jean Sylvain Bailly institute the Society of 1789.

Tags: Clubs, Political Clubs, Lafayette, Bailly, Enlightenment, Elite, Revolutionary Period, Social Reform, French Revolution, 1789

May 15: Law passed that allows for the redemption of manorial dues.

Tags: feudalism, manorialism, dues, land reform, property rights, abolition, economic policy, French Revolution, National Assembly

May 18: Marat returns to Paris and resumes publication of L'Ami du people.

Tags: Marat, L'Ami du Peuple, Journalism, Press, Propaganda, Radicalism, French Revolution, Paris, Politics, Public Opinion

May 22: The Assembly decides that it alone can decide issues of war and peace, but that the war cannot be declared without the proposition and sanctio...

Tags: National Assembly, War Powers, King's Authority, Legislative Branch, Separation of Powers, Constitutional Monarchy, French Revolution, Declaration of War, Decision-Making

May 30: Lyon celebrates the Revolution with a Fête de la Fédération. Lille holds a similar event on June 6. Strasbourg on June 13, Rouen on June 19.

Tags: French Revolution, Celebration, Fête de la Fédération, Civic Ritual, Popular Culture, Lyon, Lille, Strasbourg, Rouen, National Unity

June 3: Uprising of biracial residents of the French colony of Martinique.

Tags: French Revolution, Colonialism, Martinique, Race Relations, Social Unrest, Caribbean, Anti-Colonialism, Resistance, Identity

June 19: The Assembly abolishes the titles, orders, and other privileges of the hereditary nobility.

Tags: nobility, privileges, social reform, equality, French Revolution, ancien régime, titles, orders, abolition, social change

June 26: Avignon, then under the rule of the Pope, asks to be joined to France. The Assembly, wishing to avoid a confrontation with Pope Pius VI, dela...

Tags: Avignon, Papal States, Annexation, French Assembly, Territorial Disputes, Diplomacy, Pope Pius VI, Revolutionary Government, Nationalism

June 26: Diplomats of England, Austria, Prussia and the United Provinces meet at Reichenbach to discuss possible military intervention against the Fre...

Tags: French Revolution, International Relations, Military Intervention, Diplomacy, Austria, Prussia, England, United Provinces, Coalition, War Preparations

July 12: The Assembly adopts the final text on the status of the French clergy. Clergymen lose their special status, and are required to take an oath ...

Tags: French Revolution, Clergy, Church, Civil Constitution, Oath of Allegiance, Religion and State, Secularization, Catholic Church, Conflict

July 14: The Fête de la Fédération is held on the Champ de Mars in Paris to celebrate the first anniversary of the Revolution. The event is attended b...

Tags: Fête, Anniversary, Celebration, National Unity, Civic Oath, Champ de Mars, French Revolution, Public Event, Monarchy, National Assembly

July 23: The Pope writes a secret letter to Louis XVI, promising to condemn the Assembly's abolition of the special status of the French clergy.

Tags: Catholic Church, Papal Authority, Clergy, Revolutionary Reforms, Religious Opposition, Louis XVI, Counter-Revolution, Secret Correspondence, Church and State

July 26: Marat publishes a demand for the immediate execution of five to six hundred aristocrats to save the Revolution.

Tags: French Revolution, Marat, Reign of Terror, Violence, Radicalism, Execution, Political Violence, Aristocracy, Jacobins, Revolutionary Press

July 28: The Assembly refuses to allow Austrian troops to cross French territory to suppress an uprising in Belgium, inspired by the French Revolution...

Tags: French Revolution, Foreign Policy, Military Strategy, Austrian Empire, Belgium, National Assembly, International Relations, Non-Interventionism

July 31: The Assembly decides to take legal action against Marat and Camille Desmoulins because of their calls for revolutionary violence.

Tags: French Revolution, National Assembly, Marat, Desmoulins, Political Prosecution, Freedom of Speech, Revolutionary Violence, Factionalism, Legal System

August 16: The Assembly establishes positions of justices of the peace around the country to replace the traditional courts held by the local nobles.

Tags: Justice, Legal Reform, Judiciary, Decentralization, French Revolution, Social Change, Equality, Administrative Reform, Local Government, Rule of Law

August 16: The Assembly calls for the re-establishment of discipline in the army.

Tags: French Revolution, Army, Military, Discipline, National Assembly, Order, Revolutionary Army, Military Reform, 1790

August 31: Battles in Nancy between rebellious soldiers of the army and the national guard units of the city, who support Lafayette and the Assembly.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Conflict, Nancy, National Guard, Royalist Soldiers, Army Mutiny, Suppression, Lafayette, Assembly, Internal Strife

September 4: Necker, the finance minister, is dismissed. The National Assembly takes charge of the public treasury.

Tags: Finance, Necker, National Assembly, Public Treasury, Economic Control, Revolutionary Government, Fiscal Policy, French Revolution, Government Finances

September 16: Mutiny of sailors of the French fleet at Brest.

Tags: French Revolution, Navy, Mutiny, Brest, Military, Sailors, Naval History, 1790, Discipline

October 6: Louis XVI writes his cousin, Charles IV of Spain, to express his hostility to the new status of the French clergy.

Tags: Louis XVI, Clergy, Church, Revolution, France, Spain, Royal Correspondence, Counter-Revolution, Religious Conflict

October 12: The Assembly dissolves the local assembly of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and again reaffirms the institution of slavery.

Tags: French Revolution, Colonialism, Slavery, Saint-Domingue, Haiti, Assembly, National Assembly, Legislature, Imperialism, Caribbean

October 21: The Assembly decrees that the tricolor will replace the white flag and fleur-de-lys of the French monarchy as emblem of France.

Tags: symbols, nationalism, flag, tricolor, French Revolution, national identity, emblem, culture, France, republic

November 4: Insurrection in the French colony of Isle de France (now Mauritius).

Tags: French Colonies, Mauritius, Rebellion, Colonialism, Slave Trade, Indian Ocean, Military Action, French Revolution, Overseas, Isle de France

November 25: Uprising of black slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti).

Tags: Saint-Domingue, Haiti, Slave Rebellion, Colonialism, French Colonies, Revolutionary Violence, Caribbean, Warfare, Insurgency

November 27: The Assembly decrees that all members of the clergy must take an oath to the Nation, the Law and the King. A large majority of French cle...

Tags: Clergy, Oath of Allegiance, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Church and State, Religious Conflict, Revolutionary Government, French Revolution, Counter-Revolution, Religion, Loyalty

December 3: Louis XVI writes to King Frederick William II of Prussia asking for a military intervention by European monarchs to restore his authority.

Tags: French Monarchy, Louis XVI, Prussia, Foreign Intervention, Counter-Revolution, Royal Correspondence, European Powers, Diplomacy, Revolutionary Crisis

December 27: Thirty-nine deputies of the Assembly, who are also clergymen, take an oath of allegiance to the government. However, a majority of clergy...

Tags: Clergy, Oath of Allegiance, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Assembly, Religious Division, Revolutionary Government, Church and State, France

January 1: Mirabeau elected President of the Assembly

Tags: French Revolution, National Assembly, Mirabeau, Political Leadership, Legislative Body, Parliament, 1791, Political Power

January 3: Priests are ordered to take an oath to the Nation within twenty-four hours. A majority of clerical members of the Assembly refuse to take t...

Tags: Clergy, Oath of Allegiance, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Revolutionary Tribunal, Religious Division, Counter-Revolution, Church and State, Persecution, Ideology

February 19: Mesdames, the daughters of Louis XV and aunts of Louis XVI, depart France for exile.

Tags: Exile, Royal Family, Emigration, French Nobility, Social Unrest, Revolutionary Period, Flight, Aristocracy, Monarchy

February 24: Constitutional bishops, who have taken an oath to the State, replace the former Church hierarchy.

Tags: Church, Clergy, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Constitutional Church, Religious Reform, Revolutionary Government, Oath of Allegiance, Bishops, State and Church

February 28: Day of Daggers. Lafayette orders the arrest of 400 armed aristocrats who have gathered at the Tuileries Palace to protect the royal famil...

Tags: French Revolution, Aristocracy, Tuileries Palace, Lafayette, Counter-revolution, Royal Family, Political Violence, Social Tensions, Armed Conflict

March 2: Abolition of the traditional trade guilds.

Tags: guilds, trade, economy, abolition, regulation, free market, French Revolution, economic reform, commerce, sans-culottes

March 3: The Assembly orders that the silver objects owned by the Church be melted down and sold to fund the government.

Tags: Church, Confiscation, Nationalization, Economic Policy, Funding, Government Finance, Revolutionary Government, Property Seizure, Assets

March 10: Pope Pius VI condemns the Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Tags: Religion, Catholic Church, French Revolution, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Pope Pius VI, Counter-Revolution, Clerical Opposition, Religious Conflict, Papal Bull

March 25: Diplomatic relations broken between France and the Vatican.

Tags: French Revolution, Vatican, Catholic Church, Religion, Diplomacy, Church and State, Revolutionary France, Anti-clericalism, Secularization

April 2: Death of Mirabeau.

Tags: Mirabeau, French Revolution, Death, Revolutionary Leaders, Oratory, National Assembly, Constitutional Monarchy, Political Crisis, Leadership

April 3: The Assembly proposes transforming the new church of Sainte Geneviève, not yet consecrated, into the Panthéon, a mausoleum for illustrious ci...

Tags: French Revolution, Panthéon, Sainte-Geneviève, Mausoleum, Nationalism, Culture, Secularization, Commemoration, Architecture

April 13: Encyclical of Pope Pius VI condemns the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

Tags: Catholic Church, Papal Authority, Clergy, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Religious Conflict, Revolutionary France, Counter-Revolution, Religious Doctrine, Encyclical, Pius VI

April 18: The National Guard, despite orders from Lafayette, blocks the royal family from going to the Château de Saint-Cloud to celebrate Easter.

Tags: Religion, Royal Family, National Guard, Lafayette, Easter, Religious Freedom, Popular Sovereignty, Tensions, Revolutionary Period, French Revolution

May 4: The remains of Mirabeau are the first to be placed in the new Panthéon.

Tags: Panthéon, Mirabeau, Burial, Nationalism, Revolutionary Culture, Symbolism, Honoring, Public Memorial

May 16: On a proposal of Robespierre, the Assembly votes to forbid members of the current Assembly to become candidates for the next Assembly.

Tags: French Revolution, National Assembly, Robespierre, Elections, Political Reform, Legislative Branch, Term Limits, Political Intrigue, Self-Denying Ordinance

May 30: The Assembly orders the transfers of the ashes of Voltaire to the Panthéon.

Tags: Voltaire, Panthéon, Enlightenment, Burial, French Revolution, Culture, Secularism, Nationalism, Honoring

June 14: The Chapelier Law is passed by the Assembly, abolishing corporations and forbidding labor unions and strikes.

Tags: labor, unions, guilds, workers' rights, economic policy, regulation, French Revolution, assembly, Chapelier, strikes

June 15: The Assembly forbids priests to wear ecclesiastical robes outside churches.

Tags: clergy, religious dress, church, ecclesiastical, secularization, Assembly, civil constitution of the clergy, revolution, France, religious freedom

June 20–21: The Flight to Varennes. In the night of 20–21 June, the King, the Queen and their children slip out of the Tuileries Palace and flee by ca...

Tags: French Revolution, Monarchy, King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, Flight to Varennes, Counter-revolution, Republicanism, Political Crisis, Royal Family

June 21–22: The King is recognized at Varennes. The Assembly announces that he was taken against his will, and sends three commissioners to bring him ...

Tags: French Revolution, Monarchy, Louis XVI, Varennes, Royal Flight, National Assembly, Political Crisis, Republic, Counter-Revolution

June 25: Louis XVI returns to Paris. The Assembly suspends his functions until further notice.

Tags: Louis XVI, Monarchy, National Assembly, Suspension of Powers, French Revolution, Legislative Power, Political Crisis, Constitutional Monarchy, Royal Authority, Deposition

July 5: Emperor Leopold II issues the Padua Circular calling on the royal houses of Europe to come to the aid of Louis XVI, his brother-in-law.

Tags: French Revolution, Austria, Diplomacy, Monarchy, Counter-Revolution, International Relations, European Powers, Louis XVI, Declaration, Royal Family

July 9: The Assembly decrees that émigrés must return to France within two months, or forfeit their property.

Tags: émigrés, exile, property, confiscation, legislation, National Assembly, French Revolution, land ownership, rebellion, political repression

July 11: The ashes of Voltaire are transferred to the Panthéon.

Tags: Voltaire, Panthéon, Enlightenment, French Revolution, Burial, Celebration, Ideology, Culture, Symbolism, Revolutionary Period

July 15: National Assembly declares the king inviolable, and cannot be put on trial. Louis XVI suspended from his duties until the ratification of a n...

Tags: National Assembly, Louis XVI, Constitutional Monarchy, Inviolability, Suspension of Powers, Constitution, French Revolution, Politics, Monarchy

July 16: The more moderate members of the Jacobins club break away to form a new club, the Feuillants.

Tags: French Revolution, Jacobins, Feuillants, Political Faction, Moderates, Radicalism, Constitutional Monarchy, Political Division, Club, Legislative Assembly

July 17: A demonstration sponsored by the Jacobins, Cordeliers and their allies carries a petition demanding the removal of the King to the Champ de M...

Tags: French Revolution, Jacobins, National Guard, Massacre, Political Violence, Martial Law, Repression, Republicanism, Petition, Champ de Mars

July 18: Following the events in the Champ de Mars, the Assembly forbids incitement to riot, urging citizens to disobey the law, and seditious publica...

Tags: French Revolution, Assembly, Jacobins, Cordeliers, Suppression, Political Repression, Marat, Danton, Champ de Mars Massacre, Royalist Backlash

August 14: Slave uprising begins in Saint Domingue (Haiti)

Tags: Haiti, Saint-Domingue, slave revolt, French colonies, Caribbean, insurrection, colonialism, slavery, military conflict, rebellion

August 27: Declaration of Pillnitz - A proclamation by Frederick William II of Prussia and Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, affirms their wish ...

Tags: French Revolution, Foreign Intervention, Prussia, Austria, Monarchy, Threat of War, European Politics, Royalism, Declaration

September 13–14: Louis XVI formally accepts the new Constitution.

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, Constitution, Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy, Acceptance, Royal Authority, Political Reform, Legislative Assembly

September 27: The Assembly declares that all men living in France, regardless of color, are free, but preserves slavery in French colonies. French Jew...

Tags: French Revolution, Emancipation, Abolition, Slavery, Citizenship, Jewish Rights, Colonialism, Equality, Social Reform, National Assembly

September 29: The Assembly limits membership in the National Guard to citizens who pay a certain level of taxes, thus excluding the working class.

Tags: National Guard, Class Conflict, Social Stratification, Voting Rights, Exclusion, Wealth, Citizenship, French Revolution, Military, Taxation

September 30: Last day of the National Constituent Assembly. Assembly grants amnesty to all those punished for illegal political activity since 1788.

Tags: National Constituent Assembly, Amnesty, Political prisoners, Legal reform, French Revolution, End of an assembly, Legislative body, Revolutionary France, Political pardons

October 1: First session of the new national Legislative Assembly. Claude Pastoret, a monarchist, is elected President of the assembly.

Tags: Legislative Assembly, National Assembly, French Revolution, Politics, Monarchists, Elections, Parliament, Government, 1791

October 16: Riots against the revolutionary commune, or city government, in Avignon. After an official of the commune is killed, anti-government priso...

Tags: French Revolution, Avignon, Massacre, Violence, Riots, Prisoners, Commune, Political Instability, Local Uprising

November 9: Émigrés are again ordered to return to France before January 1, 1792, under penalty of losing their property and a sentence of death. King...

Tags: émigrés, exile, Louis XVI, veto, counter-revolution, property, French monarchy, political conflict, revolutionary legislation

November 14: Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve is elected mayor of Paris, with 6,728 votes against 3,126 for Lafayette. Out of 80,000 eligible voters, 70,00...

Tags: Paris, Mayor, Elections, Pétion, Lafayette, Municipal Politics, French Revolution, 1791, Local Government, Political Figures

November 25: The Legislative Assembly creates a Committee of Surveillance to oversee the government.

Tags: French Revolution, Legislative Assembly, Committee, Surveillance, Government Oversight, Political Control, Revolutionary Institutions, Internal Affairs

November 29: Priests are again ordered to take an oath to the government, or to be considered suspects.

Tags: Clergy, Oath of Allegiance, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Religious Persecution, Revolution, France, Church and State, Suspects, Counter-Revolution

December 3: The King writes a secret letter to Frederick William II of Prussia, urging him to intervene militarily in France "to prevent the evil whic...

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, Prussia, Military Intervention, Foreign Powers, Royal Correspondence, Secret Letter, Counter-Revolution, War Preparations, Diplomacy

December 3: Louis XVI's brothers, (the counts of Provence and Artois) refuse to return to France, citing "the moral and physical captivity in which th...

Tags: French Revolution, Royal Family, Emigration, Counter-Revolution, Louis XVI, Provence, Artois, Political Opposition, Monarchy, Exile

December 14: Lafayette receives command of one of the three new armies established to defend the French borders, the Army of the Centre, based at Metz...

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Army, Commanders, Lafayette, Defense, Borders, Metz, Rochambeau, Luckner

December 28: The Assembly votes to summon a mass army of volunteers to defend the borders of France.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Defense, Volunteer Army, Nationalism, Border Security, Revolutionary Wars, Assembly, France

January 15: The Convention declares Louis XVI guilty of conspiracy against public liberty by a vote of 707 to zero.

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, National Convention, Treason, Politics, Trial, Monarchy, Republic, Guillotine, Regicide

January 17: In a vote lasting twenty-one hours, 361 deputies vote for the death penalty, and 360 against (including 26 for a death penalty followed by...

Tags: French Revolution, National Convention, Louis XVI, Execution, Death Penalty, Voting, Political Polarization, Republic, Trial

January 21: Louis XVI is beheaded at 10:22 on Place de la Révolution. The commander of the execution, Antoine Joseph Santerre, orders a drum roll to d...

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, Execution, Regicide, Republic, Terror, Guillotine, Monarchy, Place de la Révolution

February 1: French citizens are required to have a passport to travel in the interior of the country.

Tags: travel, internal security, French Revolution, citizenship, mobility, regulation, surveillance, social control, bureaucracy

February 7: Austria and Prussia sign in Berlin a military convention to invade France and defend the monarchy.

Tags: French Revolution, Austria, Prussia, First Coalition, Military Alliance, Invasion, Monarchy, War Preparations, International Relations

February 9: The Assembly decrees the confiscation of the property of émigrés, for the benefit of the Nation.

Tags: confiscation, émigrés, property, nationalization, economic policy, French Revolution, land reform, wealth redistribution, Revolutionary government, assets

February 23: Confrontation between the army and crowds in Béthune over the allocation of grain.

Tags: Food shortages, Grain riots, Béthune, Local unrest, Army intervention, Economic hardship, Subsistence crisis, French Revolution, Early revolution, Supply chain

March 7: The Duke of Brunswick is named to command a joint Austrian-Prussian invasion of France.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Brunswick, Invasion, Prussia, Austria, Military Command, Allied Powers, Exile

April 4: The Assembly grants equal rights to free people of color in Haiti.

Tags: Haiti, Saint-Domingue, Colonialism, Equality, Rights, Free People of Color, French Revolution, Assembly, Social Reform, Race Relations

April 5: The Assembly closes the Sorbonne, a center of conservative theology.

Tags: French Revolution, Religious Institutions, Sorbonne, Education, Secularization, Anti-Clericalism, National Assembly, Universities, Religious Reform

April 20: The Assembly declares war on the King of Bohemia and Hungary, i.e. to the Holy Roman Empire.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Austria, Holy Roman Empire, Declaration of War, Military Conflict, International Relations, Assembly, Monarchy

April 25: La Marseillaise composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, is sung for the first time in Strasbourg.

Tags: French Revolution, Music, National Anthem, Strasbourg, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, Patriotism, Culture, Symbolism, Songs of Revolution

April 28: The war begins. The army of Rochambeau invades the Austrian Netherlands.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Austrian Netherlands, Military Campaign, Invasion, Rochambeau, Frontier, Military Action, Early Battles

April 30: The government issues three hundred million assignats to finance the war.

Tags: Assignats, Currency, War Finance, Inflation, French Republic, Revolutionary Government, Economic Policy, War of the First Coalition, Debt

May 5: The Assembly orders the raising of thirty-one new battalions for the army.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Army, Battalion, War, National Assembly, Defense, 1792

May 6: The Royal-Allemand regiment (Régiment de Royal-Allemand cavalerie), composed of German mercenaries, deserts the French army and joins the Austr...

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Defection, Mercenaries, Coalition Wars, Austria, Prussia, Army, Royal-Allemand, 1792

May 12: The Hussar regiments of Saxe and Bercheny desert the French Army and join the coalition.

Tags: Military, Defection, Coalition, French Army, Hussars, War of the First Coalition, Military Tactics, Armed Forces

May 27: The Assembly orders the deportation of priests who have not signed the oath to the government, known as the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

Tags: Clergy, Deportation, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Religious Persecution, French Revolution, Counter-Revolution, Oath of Allegiance, Church and State, Religious Conflict

June 8: The Assembly orders the raising of an army of twenty thousand volunteers to be camped outside Paris.

Tags: military, national guard, volunteers, army, Paris, defense, French Revolution, Assembly, war preparation, security

June 11: Louis XVI vetoes the laws on the deportation of priests and the formation of a new army outside Paris.

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, Veto, Deportation of Priests, National Assembly, Political Conflict, Army, Royal Authority, 1792

June 20: Demonstrators invade the Tuileries Palace and King Louis XVI condescends to wear a red liberty cap and drink to the health of the Nation.

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, Tuileries Palace, Popular Uprising, Liberty Cap, Monarchy, Radicalism, Demonstration, Political Protest, Constitutional Monarchy

June 20: A secret insurrectionary committee, supported by the Paris Commune and led by the prosecutors Louis Pierre Manuel and Georges Danton, is form...

Tags: Paris Commune, Danton, Insurrection, Committee, Revolutionary Leaders, Political Intrigue, Radicalism, French Revolution, 1792, Secret Committee

June 21: The Assembly bans gatherings of armed citizens within the city limits.

Tags: National Assembly, Paris, Armed Citizens, Civil Unrest, Military Control, Public Order, Security, French Revolution, 1792, Restriction

June 28: Lafayette speaks to the Assembly, denouncing the actions of the Jacobins and other radical groups in the Assembly. His proposal to organize a...

Tags: French Revolution, Lafayette, Jacobins, National Guard, Assembly, Pétion, Political Opposition, Radicalism, Paris, 1792

June 30: Lafayette leaves Paris and returns to his army. He is denounced by Robespierre and his effigy is burned by a mob at the Palais-Royal.

Tags: Lafayette, Robespierre, Political Intrigue, French Army, Paris, Denunciation, Radicalism, Factionalism, Revolutionary Leaders

July 11: As the Austrian army advances slowly toward Paris, the Assembly declares that the Nation is in danger (La patrie en danger).

Tags: French Revolution, War, Military, Invasion, National Assembly, Declaration, Patrie en danger, Austria, Defense, Mobilization

July 15: Members of the Cordeliers club, led by Danton, demand the convocation of a Convention to replace the Legislative Assembly.

Tags: French Revolution, Cordeliers Club, Danton, Legislative Assembly, Convention, Political Factions, Radicalism, Republicanism, Political Reform

July 15: The Assembly votes to send regular army units, whose officers largely support Lafayette, far outside the city.

Tags: French Revolution, National Assembly, Military, Army, Paris, Lafayette, Defense, Political Intrigue, Troop Movements

July 25: The Assembly authorizes the Paris sections, local assemblies in each neighborhood, many controlled by the Jacobins and Cordeliers, to meet in...

Tags: Paris Sections, Jacobins, Cordeliers, Local Assemblies, Political Control, French Revolution, Municipal Government, Revolutionary Tribunals, Popular Power

July 25: Brunswick Manifesto - The Austrian commander warns that should the royal family be harmed, an "exemplary and eternally memorable revenge" wil...

Tags: Brunswick Manifesto, Prussia, Austria, Threat, Royal Family, Military Intervention, War of the First Coalition, Revolutionary Wars, Intimidation, Propaganda

July 28: The Brunswick Manifesto is widely circulated in Paris, causing fury against the King.

Tags: French Revolution, Brunswick Manifesto, King Louis XVI, Paris, Propaganda, Radicalization, War of the First Coalition, Political Crisis, Popular Uprising

July 30: Decree by the Assembly allows working-class citizens (those who pay no taxes) to join the National Guard.

Tags: National Guard, Military, French Revolution, Citizenship, Working Class, Social Reform, Military Reform, 1792, Expansion of Rights, Armed Forces

July 30: Arrival in Paris of volunteer fédérés from Marseille. They sing the new war hymn, of the Army of the Rhine, which gradually takes their name,...

Tags: French Revolution, Marseille, Fédérés, La Marseillaise, National Guard, Military, War Hymn, Armed Conflict, Political Tensions

August 3: 47 of the 48 sections of Paris, mostly controlled by the Cordeliers and the Jacobins, send petitions to the Assembly, demanding the removal ...

Tags: French Revolution, Paris, Petitions, Sections, Assembly, Jacobins, Cordeliers, Monarchy, Republicanism, Political Pressure

August 4: The Paris section Number Eighty proclaims an insurrection on August 10 if the Assembly does not remove the King. At the request of the royal...

Tags: Paris Sections, Insurrection, King Louis XVI, Tuileries Palace, Swiss Guard, Nobles, Royal Household, Military Preparations, August 10th

August 9: Georges Danton, a deputy city prosecutor, and his Cordeliers allies take over the Paris city government and establish the Revolutionary Pari...

Tags: French Revolution, Paris Commune, Danton, Revolutionary Government, City Government, Political Power, Hôtel de Ville, August 10th, Radicalism

August 10: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. The National Guard of the insurrectional Paris Commune and revolutionary fédérés from Marseille and Britt...

Tags: French Revolution, Storming of the Tuileries, August 10, Paris Commune, Swiss Guard, Monarchy, Legislative Assembly, Revolution, Warfare, Violence

August 11: The Assembly elects a new Executive Committee to replace the government. Danton is named Minister of Justice. The municipalities are author...

Tags: French Revolution, Executive Committee, Danton, Minister of Justice, Arrests, Press Censorship, Government Reform, Radicalization, Reign of Terror (foreshadowing)

August 13: Royal family imprisoned in the Temple.

Tags: French Revolution, Monarchy, Royal Family, Imprisonment, Temple Prison, Tuileries Palace, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Revolutionary Violence

August 14: Lafayette tries unsuccessfully to persuade his army to march on Paris to rescue the royal family.

Tags: Lafayette, French Army, Royal Family, Paris, Military Coup, Revolutionary War, Political Intrigue, Arrest of Lafayette, Counter-Revolution

August 17: At the demand of Robespierre and the Commune of Paris, who threatens an armed uprising if the Assembly does not comply, the Assembly votes ...

Tags: French Revolution, National Assembly, Commune of Paris, Robespierre, Revolutionary Tribunal, National Convention, Political Pressure, Radicalization, Legislative Body, Terror

August 18: The Assembly abolishes the religious teaching orders and those running hospitals, the last remaining religious orders in France.

Tags: Religious Orders, Secularization, French Revolution, Anti-clericalism, Clergy, Hospitals, Education, National Assembly, Religious Reform, Church and State

August 19: Lafayette leaves his army and goes into exile. The Coalition army of Austrian and Prussian soldiers, and of French émigrés, led by the Duke...

Tags: French Revolution, Invasion, Coalition Wars, Military Campaign, Exile, Lafayette, Duke of Brunswick, Prussia, Austria, Émigrés

August 21: First summary judgement by the Revolutionary Tribunal and execution by the guillotine of a royalist, Louis Collenot d'Angremont (fr).

Tags: French Revolution, Guillotine, Execution, Revolutionary Tribunal, Justice, Royalist, Terror, Atrocity, Political Violence

August 22: Royalist riots in Brittany, Vendée and Dauphiné.

Tags: Royalist, Uprising, Civil Unrest, Counter-Revolution, Vendée, Brittany, Dauphiné, Armed Conflict, French Revolution

August 22: The Paris Commune orders that persons henceforth be addressed as Citoyen and Citoyenne ("Citizen") rather than Monsieur or Madame.

Tags: French Revolution, Paris Commune, Citizenship, Social Change, Equality, Titles of Address, Republicanism, Culture, Social Norms

September 2–7: Following the news of surrender of Verdun, the Commune orders massacres of prisoners in Paris prisons. Between 1400 and 2000 prisoners ...

Tags: French Revolution, Massacre, Prison, Violence, Paris, Commune, Political Violence, Terror, Atrocity

September 2: Capitulation without a fight of Verdun to Brunswick's troops.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Prussia, Brunswick Manifesto, Siege, Military Defeat, Border Defense, Strategic Importance, Capitulation, Verdun

September 10: The government requisitions all church objects made of gold or silver.

Tags: Church, Confiscation, Religion, Secularization, Nationalization, Property, Revolutionary Government, Treasury, Assets

September 19: Creation of the Louvre Museum displaying art taken from royal collections.

Tags: museums, art, French Revolution, royal collection, public access, cultural heritage, iconography, nationalism, art history

September 20: The newly elected National Convention holds its first session behind closed doors, in the Salle du Manège, the former riding school of t...

Tags: National Convention, French Revolution, Jacobins, Montagnards, Politics, Legislature, Governance, First Session, Bureau

September 20: Last session of Assembly votes a new law permitting civil marriage and divorce.

Tags: marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal reform, secularization, family, Assembly, French Revolution, social change, law

September 20: The French army under Generals Dumouriez and Kellermann defeat the Prussians at the Battle of Valmy. The Prussians retreat.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Battle, Valmy, Prussia, Dumouriez, Kellermann, War, Defense, First Coalition

September 22: The Convention proclaims the abolition of royalty and the First French Republic.

Tags: French Revolution, Republic, Convention, Royalty Abolition, France, Political Transition, Monarchy, Revolution, 18th Century, Government

September 29: French troops occupy Nice, then part of Savoy.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaigns, Territorial Expansion, Nice, Savoy, French Army, Invasion, War of the First Coalition, Border Disputes

October 3: French troops occupy Basel in Switzerland, then ruled by Archbishop of Basel, and proclaim it an independent Republic.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Basel, Switzerland, Occupation, Republic, Military Action, Expansionism, French Army, Political Intervention

October 23: French troops occupy Frankfurt am Main.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaigns, German States, Invasion, War of the First Coalition, Occupation, Rhineland, Territorial Expansion

October 27: The French army under Dumouriez invades the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium). They occupy Brussels on November 14.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, War of the First Coalition, Invasion, Belgium, Dumouriez, Austrian Netherlands, Territorial Expansion, Battle of Jemappes, Brussels Occupation

November 19: The Convention claims the right to intervene in any country "where people desire to recover their freedom".

Tags: French Revolution, Intervention, Foreign Policy, Expansionism, Revolutionary Wars, Propaganda, Ideology, Liberty, Convention

November 20: Discovery in the king's apartment in the Tuileries Palace of the armoire de fer, an iron strongbox containing Louis XVI's secret correspo...

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, Tuileries Palace, Armoire de fer, Secret Correspondence, Monarchy, Republicanism, Political Intrigue, Conspiracy, Treason

November 27: The Convention decrees the attachment of Nice and the Savoy to France.

Tags: French Revolution, Territorial Expansion, Annexation, Nice, Savoy, Convention, Nationalism, War of the First Coalition, Border Changes

November 28: The French army occupies Liège.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaigns, Belgium, Liège, First Coalition War, Occupation, Warfare, Expansionism, Territorial Control

December 3: Robespierre, leader of the Jacobins and First Deputy for Paris in the convention, demands that the King be put to death.

Tags: French Revolution, Robespierre, Jacobins, Louis XVI, Execution, Regicide, National Convention, Politics, Radicalism, Republic

December 4: Deputies sent by Brussels assembly to the National Convention express gratitude of the Belgian people and request that France officially r...

Tags: Belgium, National Convention, Independence, Foreign Relations, French Revolutionary Wars, Decree, Diplomacy, Political Recognition, Brussels

December 6: At the proposal of Jean-Paul Marat, the Convention rules that each deputy must individually and publicly declare his vote on the death pen...

Tags: French Revolution, National Convention, Jean-Paul Marat, Louis XVI Trial, Death Penalty, Voting, Public Declaration, Political Polarization, Radicalization, Regicide

December 10: Opening of the trial of Louis XVI before the convention.

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVI, Trial, National Convention, Monarchy, Republic, Revolutionary Tribunal, Regicide, Politics, Justice

December 11: Louis XVI is brought before the convention. He appears in person twice, December 11 and 26.

Tags: Louis XVI, National Convention, Trial, Monarchy, French Revolution, Politics, Revolutionary Tribunal, Legal Proceedings, Accusation, Deposition

December 26: Defense of the King presented by his lawyer, Raymond Desèze (Raymond comte de Sèze).

Tags: Louis XVI, Trial, Defense, Raymond Desèze, Legal, Monarchy, Revolutionary Tribunal, French Revolution, Politics, King

December 27–28: Motions in the Convention asking that people vote on judgement of the King. The motion is opposed by Robespierre, who declares "Louis ...

Tags: French Revolution, National Convention, Louis XVI, King's Trial, Robespierre, Political Debate, Popular Sovereignty, Regicide, Republic

January 24: Breaking of diplomatic relations between England and France.

Tags: French Revolution, Great Britain, Diplomacy, War, Coalition Wars, Conflict, International Relations, England, Foreign Policy, Escalation

February 1: The Convention declares war against England and the Dutch Republic.

Tags: French Revolution, War, Military, Great Britain, Netherlands, First Coalition, Continental War, Foreign Policy, Expansionism, 18th Century

February 14: The Convention annexes the Principality of Monaco.

Tags: French Revolution, Monaco, Annexation, Territorial Expansion, National Convention, Political Control, French Republic, International Relations

February 14: Jean Nicolas Pache is elected the new mayor of Paris.

Tags: French Revolution, Paris, Mayor, Local Government, Politics, Jacobins, Commune of Paris, Elections

March 1: Decree of the Convention annexes Belgium to France.

Tags: French Revolution, Belgium, Annexation, Territorial Expansion, War, First Coalition War, French Republic, Nationalism, Military Campaigns, Border Disputes

March 3: Armed royalist uprising against the Convention begins in Brittany.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Royalist, Counter-Revolution, Brittany, Uprising, Civil War, Warfare, Convention

March 7: War in the Vendée. Armed uprising against the rule of the convention, particularly against conscription into the army, begins in the Vendée r...

Tags: Vendée, French Revolution, Civil War, Counter-Revolution, Royalists, Catholicism, Conscription, Rebellion, War

March 7: The Convention declares war against Spain.

Tags: French Revolution, War, Spain, First Coalition, Military, Convention, European conflict, Expansionism, Revolutionary Wars

March 10: Revolutionary Tribunal established in Paris, with Fouquier-Tinville as the public prosecutor.

Tags: French Revolution, Revolutionary Tribunal, Fouquier-Tinville, Justice, Reign of Terror, Legal System, Paris, Guillotine, Atrocities, Political Trials

March 10: Failed uprising in Paris by the ultra-revolutionary faction known as the enragés, led by the former priest Jacques Roux.

Tags: French Revolution, Enragés, Factionalism, Paris, Uprising, Radicalism, Jacques Roux, Political Violence, Failed Rebellion

March 18: The Convention decrees the death penalty for those advocating radical economic programs, a decree aimed at the enragés.

Tags: French Revolution, Convention, Enragés, Economic Policy, Death Penalty, Political Repression, Radicalism, Factionalism, Terror, Legislative Action

March 19: The Convention decrees the death penalty for any participant in the uprising in the Vendée.

Tags: Vendée, French Revolution, Rebellion, Counter-Revolution, Death Penalty, Terror, Repression, Civil War, Violence, Atrocities

March 21: Establishment of Revolutionary Surveillance Committees (Comités de surveillance révolutionnaire) in all communes and their sections.

Tags: Surveillance, Revolutionary Committees, French Revolution, Local Governance, Repression, Public Safety, Jacobins, Terror, Social Control

March 27: General Dumouriez denounces revolutionary anarchy.

Tags: French Revolution, General Dumouriez, Military, Anarchy, Political Instability, War of the First Coalition, Criticism, Revolutionary Factions, Public Opinion

March 30: The Convention orders Dumouriez to return to Paris, and sends four commissaires and Pierre de Ruel, the Minister of War, to arrest him.

Tags: French Revolution, Dumouriez, Convention, Military, Arrest, General, War, Political Intrigue, 1793

April 1: Dumouriez arrests the commissaires of the Convention and Minister of War and hands them over to the Austrians,

Tags: Dumouriez, Defection, Austrians, War, Military, French Revolutionary Wars, Convention, Treason, Political Instability

April 3: Convention declares Dumouriez outside the law.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Dumouriez, Convention, Treason, Exile, War of the First Coalition, Politics and Warfare

April 3: Arrest of Philippe Égalité, a deputy and head of the Orléans branch of the royal family, who had voted for the execution of Louis XVI, his co...

Tags: French Revolution, Arrest, Politics, Royal Family, Guillotine, Deputy, Factionalism, Radicalization, Louis XVI

April 4: Dumouriez fails to persuade his army to march on Paris, and goes over to the Austrians on April 5.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Military Defection, General Dumouriez, Austria, First Coalition, War of the First Coalition, Military Strategy, Political Instability

April 5: Jean Paul Marat is elected head of the Jacobin Club.

Tags: French Revolution, Jacobin Club, Jean-Paul Marat, Political Leadership, Radicalism, Political Faction, Revolutionary Politics, Paris

April 6: Committee of Public Safety established by the convention to oversee the ministries and to be chief executive body of the government. Its firs...

Tags: French Revolution, Committee of Public Safety, Executive Power, Governance, Danton, Robespierre, Revolutionary Tribunal, Convention, Government, 1793

April 6: First session of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Tags: French Revolution, Tribunal, Justice, Trials, Guillotine, Reign of Terror, Execution, Political Violence, Legal System

April 12: The Convention votes to arrest Marat for using his newspaper L'Ami du peuple to incite violence and murder, and demand to suspend the conven...

Tags: French Revolution, Marat, The Convention, Political Arrest, Violence, Freedom of the Press, Radicalism, L'Ami du peuple, Political Instability

April 15: The mayor of Paris, Jean Nicolas Pache, demands that the Convention expel 23 deputies belonging to the moderate Girondin faction.

Tags: French Revolution, Girondins, Jacobins, Paris Commune, National Convention, Political Intrigue, Factionalism, Purge, Radicalization, Deputies

April 24: Marat is brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and is acquitted of all charges. His release causes riotous celebrations by his supporte...

Tags: Marat, Revolutionary Tribunal, Acquittal, Supporters, Celebration, Popular Support, Political Violence, French Revolution, Justice System, Radicalism

May 3: The rebels of the Vendée, led by the aristocrats Charles de Bonchamps and Henri de La Rochejaquelein, capture Bressuire.

Tags: Vendée, Rebellion, Civil War, French Revolution, Military Action, Counter-Revolution, Royalist, Bressuire

May 4: At the demand of the Paris section of Saint-Antoine, the Convention fixes a maximum price for grain.

Tags: food prices, grain, price controls, Paris, sans-culottes, Convention, economic policy, bread, inflation, French Revolution

May 24: At the demand of the Girondins, the Convention orders the arrest of the ultra-revolutionary enragés leaders Jacques René Hébert and Jean Varle...

Tags: French Revolution, Girondins, Enragés, Arrest, Factionalism, Political Intrigue, Convention, Hébert, Varlet, Radicals

May 25: The Paris Commune demands the release of Hébert and Varlet.

Tags: Paris Commune, Political Prisoners, Factionalism, French Revolution, Radicals, Hébertists, Varlet, Protest, Demand, 1793

May 26: At the Jacobin Club, Robespierre and Marat call for an insurrection against the convention. The Paris Commune begins preparing a seizure of po...

Tags: French Revolution, Jacobin Club, Robespierre, Marat, Insurrection, Paris Commune, Radicalism, Convention, Power Struggle, Political Instability

May 27: Release of Hébert and Varlet.

Tags: arrest, political prisoners, factionalism, sans-culottes, radicalism, Paris Commune, revolutionary politics, Jacobins

May 30: The leaders of Lyon rebel against the convention, arresting the local Montagnard and enragés leaders.

Tags: French Revolution, Lyon, Rebellion, Montagnards, Enragés, Civil War, Local Politics, Political Violence, Girondins, Convention

May 31: Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793. An armed crowd of sans-culottes organized by the Commune storms the hall of the convention and demands t...

Tags: French Revolution, Sans-culottes, Insurrection, National Convention, Political Violence, Commune of Paris, Girondins, Jacobins, Purge, Factionalism

June 2: The sans-culottes and soldiers of the Paris Commune, led by François Hanriot, occupy the hall of the convention and force it to vote for the a...

Tags: French Revolution, Girondins, Sans-culottes, Paris Commune, National Convention, Political Purge, François Hanriot, Radicalization, Factionalism, Terror

June 6: Revolts against the Montagnard coup d'état in Marseille, Nîmes, and Toulouse.

Tags: Rebellion, Counter-Revolution, Federalist Revolt, Royalist, Montagnards, Southern France, Civil War, Uprising, Armed Resistance

June 7: Bordeaux rejects the new government.

Tags: Rebellion, Counter-Revolution, Federalist Revolt, Bordeaux, National Convention, Girondins, Political Opposition, French Revolution, Local Government

June 10: Despite the Revolution, scientific research continues. Opening of the National Museum of Natural History.

Tags: science, natural history, museum, scientific research, revolution, cultural institutions, education, enlightenment

June 10: Montagnards gain control of the Committee of Public Safety.

Tags: French Revolution, Montagnards, Committee of Public Safety, Jacobins, Political Power, Revolutionary Government, Radicalism, Reign of Terror, National Convention

June 13: Leaders of departments opposing the new government meet in Caen. About sixty departments are in revolt against Montagnard government in Paris...

Tags: French Revolution, Federalist Revolt, Caen, Girondins, Counter-Revolution, Departments, Civil War, Montagnards, Rebellion, Military

June 24: Ratification of new Constitution by the National Convention.

Tags: French Revolution, Constitution, National Convention, 1793, Republic, Legislation, Governance, Political Reform, Radicalism

June 25: Jacques Roux, leader of the ultra-revolutionary enragés, presents his program to the convention.

Tags: French Revolution, Enragés, Jacques Roux, Radicalism, Political Program, National Convention, Social Unrest, Revolutionary Factions, Economic Policies, Ideology

June 26; Robespierre denounces the enragés before the convention.

Tags: Robespierre, Enragés, National Convention, Factionalism, Political Opposition, French Revolution, Radicals, Political Discourse, Dantonists

June 30: Robespierre and Hébert lead a delegation of Jacobins to the Cordeliers Club to demand the exclusion from the club of Roux and the other ultra...

Tags: French Revolution, Jacobins, Cordeliers Club, Factionalism, Political Purge, Robespierre, Hébert, Ultra-Revolutionaries, Political Intrigue

July 3: The eight-year-old Louis XVII, king of France in the eyes of the royalists, is taken from Marie Antoinette and given to a cobbler named Antoin...

Tags: French Revolution, Royalty, Prison, Children, Marie Antoinette, Louis XVII, National Convention, Revolutionary Tribunal, Custody, Political Prisoners

July 4: Marat violently denounces the enragés.

Tags: Marat, Enragés, Factionalism, Radicalism, Political Discourse, Revolutionary Journalism, Social Conflict, French Revolution, Ideology

July 13: Charlotte Corday assassinates Jean-Paul Marat in his bath. At her trial, she declares, "I killed one man to save a hundred thousand."

Tags: Assassination, French Revolution, Radicalism, Violence, Political Violence, Marat, Corday, Reign of Terror, Atrocity

July 17: Charlotte Corday is tried and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal for murdering Marat. She is guillotined after her trial.

Tags: French Revolution, Assassination, Guillotine, Jacobins, Reign of Terror, Political Violence, Justice, Trials, Executions

July 27: The Convention institutes death penalty for those who hoard scarce goods.

Tags: French Revolution, Economy, Scarcity, Hoarding, Price controls, Terror, The Convention, Food shortages, Economic policy, Revolutionary Tribunal

July 27: Robespierre elected to the Committee of Public Safety.

Tags: Robespierre, Committee of Public Safety, French Revolution, Radicalism, Reign of Terror, Politics, Legislative Body, Jacobins, National Convention, Leadership

August 1: The Convention adopts the principles of the metric system.

Tags: metric system, measurement, standards, France, French Revolution, scientific revolution, innovation, systemization, weights and measures

August 1: The Convention declares a scorched earth policy against all departments rebelling against its authority.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Rebellion, Scorched Earth, Military Strategy, Civil War, Convention, Repression, Counter-Revolution, Warfare

August 1: On order by decree of the convention, a mob profanes the tombs of the Kings of France at the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

Tags: French Revolution, Saint-Denis, Royal Tombs, Desecration, Anti-clericalism, Iconoclasm, Revolutionary Violence, Vandalism, Religious Persecution, Symbolic Destruction

August 2: Marie-Antoinette is transferred from the Temple to the Conciergerie.

Tags: Marie Antoinette, Prison, French Revolution, Royalty, Imprisonment, Conciergerie, Queen, Trials, Social Change, Revolutionary Tribunal

August 8: The Convention sends an army led by General Kellermann to lay siege to the rebellious city of Lyon.

Tags: French Revolution, Lyon, Siege, Military Campaign, Rebellion, General Kellermann, Counter-Revolution, Military Action, Civil War

August 22: Robespierre is elected the president of the convention.

Tags: Robespierre, National Convention, French Revolution, Leadership, Politics, Jacobins, Committee of Public Safety, Revolutionary Government, Presidency

August 23: Levée en masse voted by the convention. All able-bodied non-married men between ages 18 and 25 are required to serve in the army.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Conscription, Military Mobilization, Warfare, National Defense, Mass Army, Revolutionary France, Age of Revolution, 18th Century

August 25: Soldiers of the Convention capture Marseille.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Military Campaign, Marseille, Siege, Convention, Rebellion, Republican Army, Southern France, Internal Conflict

August 27: Anti-Convention leaders in Toulon invite the British fleet and army to occupy the city.

Tags: Toulon, British Intervention, Counter-Revolution, Siege, Royalist, French Navy, Military Strategy, War of the First Coalition, Occupation

September 4: Sans-culottes occupy the convention and demand the arrest of suspected opponents of the Revolution, and the creation of a new revolutiona...

Tags: Sans-culottes, Revolutionary Army, Popular Pressure, Radicalism, Political Violence, Convention, French Revolution, Social Unrest, Civil Society, Demand

September 17: Convention adopts a new Law of Suspects, permitting the arrest and rapid trial of anyone suspected of opposing the Revolution. Start of ...

Tags: Reign of Terror, Law of Suspects, French Revolution, Guillotine, Atrocity, Violence, Revolutionary Tribunal, Political Repression, Human Rights

September 18: Convention re-establishes revolutionary government in Bordeaux. Opponents are arrested and imprisoned.

Tags: French Revolution, Bordeaux, Revolutionary Government, Arrest, Imprisonment, Political Purge, Regional Power, Reign of Terror, Convention

September 21: All women are required to wear a cocarde tricolor.

Tags: French Revolution, Fashion, Symbolism, Nationalism, Women's Rights, Clothing, Order, Citizen, Public Sphere

September 29: The Convention passes the General Maximum, fixing the prices of many goods and services, as well as maximum salaries.

Tags: price controls, inflation, economic policy, maximum salaries, rationing, French Revolution, Convention, subsistence crisis, war economy, regulation

October 3: The Convention orders that Marie-Antoinette be tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Tags: French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, Revolutionary Tribunal, Trial, Guillotine, Reign of Terror, Atrocity, Royal Family, Justice

October 3: Additional moderate deputies are accused and excluded from the Assembly; a total of 136 deputies are excluded.

Tags: French Revolution, National Convention, Purges, Political Violence, Factionalism, Radicalization, Terror, Deputies, Exclusion, Moderates

October 5: To break with the past and replace traditional religious holidays, the Convention adopts the newly created Republican Calendar: Year I is d...

Tags: Republican Calendar, Timekeeping, Calendar Reform, Culture, Revolutionary France, Dechristianization, Secularization, Social Change, Convention, Symbolism

October 9: Lyon is recaptured by the army of the convention.

Tags: French Revolution, Rebellion, Siege, Lyon, Convention Army, Military Campaign, Counter-Revolution, Warfare, Suppression

October 10: A decree by the Convention puts the new Constitution on hold. On a proposal from Saint-Just, the Convention declares that "The government ...

Tags: French Revolution, Convention, Saint-Just, Constitution, Revolutionary Government, Reign of Terror, Political Decree, Emergency Powers, Centralization of Power

October 12: Marie-Antoinette is summoned before the Revolutionary Tribunal and charged with treason.

Tags: French Revolution, Marie-Antoinette, Treason, Revolutionary Tribunal, Accusation, Trial, Royalty, Guillotine, Reign of Terror, Atrocity

October 12: The Convention decrees that the city of Lyon will be destroyed in punishment for its rebellion, and renamed Ville-Affranchie.

Tags: French Revolution, Rebellion, Lyon, Siege, Terror, Suppression, City Destruction, Brutality, Political Repression, Ville-Affranchie

October 16: Marie-Antoinette is convicted and guillotined on the Place de la Revolution.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Guillotine, Royalty, Execution, Marie Antoinette, Place de la Revolution, Atrocity, Political Violence

October 16: The Army of the Convention defeats the Austrian Army at the Battle of Wattignies.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Warfare, Battle, Wattignies, Austrian Army, First Coalition, Republic, Victory, 1793

October 17: The Army of the Convention under Generals Jean-Baptiste Kléber and François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers defeats the Vendéen rebels at Chol...

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Civil War, Military Victory, Republican Army, Kléber, Marceau, Counter-Revolution, Military Campaign

October 20: The Convention orders the repression of the ultra-revolutionary enragés.

Tags: French Revolution, The Convention, Enragés, Radicalism, Political Repression, Factionalism, Revolutionary Government, Paris Commune, Reign of Terror

October 28: The Convention forbids religious instruction by clerics.

Tags: French Revolution, Dechristianization, Religion, Clergy, Convention, Education, Secularism, Anti-clericalism, Instruction

October 30: The Revolutionary Tribunal sentences the 21 Girondins deputies to death.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Girondins, Guillotine, Executions, Political Violence, Revolutionary Tribunal, Jacobins, Political Purges

October 31: The 21 Girondins deputies are guillotined.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Guillotine, Girondins, Political Purge, Execution, Radicalism, Violence, Factionalism, Atrocity

November 3: Olympe de Gouges, champion of rights for women, accused of Girondin sympathies, is guillotined.

Tags: French Revolution, Women's Rights, Guillotine, Political Persecution, Girondins, Jacobins, Equality, Social Justice, Execution, Radicalism

November 7: Philippe Égalité is guillotined.

Tags: French Revolution, Guillotine, Execution, Political Purge, Égalité, Terror, Jacobins, Aristocracy, Violence, Repression

November 8: Madame Roland is guillotined in the purge of Girondins. Before her execution, she cries: "Liberty, what crimes are committed in your name!...

Tags: French Revolution, Guillotine, Reign of Terror, Girondins, Political Persecution, Atrocity, Execution, Madame Roland, Violence

November 9: Former finance minister Brienne is arrested at Sens.

Tags: French Revolution, Arrest, Brienne, Finance, Government, Political Persecution, Revolutionary Tribunal, Sens

November 10: The Cathedral of Notre Dame is re-dedicated as a Temple of Reason in to the civic religion of the Cult of Reason.

Tags: French Revolution, Cult of Reason, Dechristianization, Religious Change, Notre Dame, Secularism, Civic Religion, Paris, Symbolic Action

November 12: The astronomer and former mayor of Paris, Jean Sylvain Bailly, is executed on the Champ de Mars for his role in suppressing a demonstrati...

Tags: French Revolution, Execution, Guillotine, Political Repression, Reign of Terror, Champ de Mars Massacre, Paris, Revolutionary Tribunal, Former Mayor

November 17: On Robespierre's orders, supporters of Danton are arrested.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Robespierre, Danton, Factionalism, Purges, Political Arrests, Guillotine, Radicalism, Leadership

November 20: Danton returns to Paris, after being absent since October 11. He urges "indulgence" toward opponents and "national reconciliation".

November 23: The Paris Commune orders the closing of all churches and places of worship in Paris.

November 25: Convention votes to remove Mirabeau's remains from the Panthéon and replace them with those of Marat.

Tags: French Revolution, National Convention, Mirabeau, Marat, Political Purge, Posthumous Trial, Pantheon, Symbolism, Revolutionary Factionalism, Political Reputations

December 5: The Cordelier deputy Camille Desmoulins, supporting Danton, publishes an appeal for national reconciliation.

Tags: Camille Desmoulins, Danton, Reconciliation, Political Pamphlet, Cordeliers, French Revolution, Public Opinion, Journalism, Factionalism, Ideology

December 12: Defeat of the rebel Vendéen army at Le Mans.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Civil War, Warfare, Military Defeat, Republican Army, Counter-Revolution, Western France, Battles

December 19: Withdrawal of the British from Toulon, following a successful military operation conceived and led by a young artillery officer, Napoléon...

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Siege of Toulon, Napoléon Bonaparte, British Navy, Republican Army, War of the First Coalition, Artillery, Strategic Withdrawal

December 23: The Army of General François Joseph Westermann destroys the last the Vendéen army at Savenay. Six thousand prisoners are executed.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Counter-revolution, Military Defeat, Civil War, Massacre, Westermann, Savenay, Republic

December 24: To punish the rebellious city of Toulon, the Convention renames it Port-la-Montagne.

Tags: Toulon, Renaming, Punishment, Convention, French Revolution, Cities, Political Control, Suppression, Rebellion

January 8: At the Jacobins, Robespierre denounces Fabre d'Églantine, one of the instigators of the September massacres, father of the Republican calen...

Tags: Robespierre, Jacobins, Factionalism, Danton, French Revolution, Political Intrigue, Denunciation, Reign of Terror, September Massacres

January 13: Arrest of Fabre d'Églantine for alleged diversion of state funds.

Tags: French Revolution, Guillotine, Corruption, Dantonists, Committee of Public Safety, Political Trials, Thermidorian Reaction, Financial Scandal, Revolutionary Tribunal

January 29: Death of Henri de la Rochejaquelein, royalist and military leader of the Vendéens, fighting at Nuaillé.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Royalist, Military Leadership, Civil War, Counter-Revolution, Battle, Death, Warfare

February 4: The Convention votes to abolish slavery in French colonies.

Tags: slavery, abolition, French Revolution, human rights, colonies, Convention, social reform, equality, emancipation, Saint-Domingue

February 5: Robespierre lectures the convention on the necessity for the Terror: "The foundations of a popular government in a revolution are virtue a...

Tags: French Revolution, Robespierre, Reign of Terror, Virtue, Terror, Political Philosophy, Justification, Ideology, Popular Government, Revolutionary Government

February 6: Recall of Jean-Baptiste Carrier from Nantes. As official delegate of the convention, he was responsible for the drownings at Nantes of as ...

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Nantes, Carrier, Drownings, Vendée, Atrocity, Massacre, Repression, Civil War

February 6: Napoleon Bonaparte is promoted to general for his role in driving the British from Toulon.

Tags: Napoleon Bonaparte, French Revolution, Military Promotion, Toulon, Military Strategy, Warfare, French Army, General, Siege of Toulon, Early Career

February 10: Jacques Roux commits suicide in prison.

Tags: French Revolution, Radicals, Sans-culottes, Prison, Suicide, Political Persecution, Social Justice, Ideology, Revolutionary Tribunal

February 22: In a speech at the Cordeliers Club, Hébert attacks both the factions of Danton and Robespierre.

Tags: French Revolution, Hébert, Danton, Robespierre, Cordeliers Club, Factionalism, Political Attacks, Radicalism, Reign of Terror, Political Intrigue

March 4: At the Cordeliers Club, Jean-Baptiste Carrier calls for an insurrection against the convention.

Tags: French Revolution, Jacobins, Cordeliers Club, Insurrection, Political Radicalism, Carrier, Convention, Reign of Terror, Political Violence

March 11: The Committees of Public Safety and General Security denounce a planned uprising by the Cordeliers.

Tags: French Revolution, Committee of Public Safety, Committee of General Security, Cordeliers Club, Political Repression, Factionalism, Reign of Terror, Jacobins, Uprising, Counter-revolution

March 13: Saint-Just, President of the convention, denounces a plot against liberty and the French people. Hébert and many other Cordeliers are arrest...

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Saint-Just, Hébertists, Factionalism, Political Purge, Convention, Arrest, Cordeliers, Liberty

March 15: Robespierre tells the Convention that "All the factions must perish from the same blow."

Tags: Robespierre, Reign of Terror, National Convention, Factionalism, Political Purges, Radicalism, French Revolution, Guillotine, Declaration, Jacobins

March 20: Arrest of General Hoche, a member of the Cordeliers. He is freed in August after the fall of Robespierre.

Tags: arrest, imprisonment, military, Cordeliers, Robespierre, French Revolution, political repression, Thermidorian Reaction, Hoche, General

March 21: Trial of the Hébertists begins. To compromise them, they are tried together with foreign bankers, aristocrats and counter-revolutionaries.

Tags: French Revolution, Hébertists, Reign of Terror, Trials, Political Purge, Factionalism, Radicals, Counter-Revolutionaries, Guillotine, Justice

March 24: Hébert and leaders of the Cordeliers are condemned to death and guillotined.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Hébertists, Cordeliers Club, Guillotine, Political Purges, Factionalism, Radicalism, Execution, Paris

March 27: The philosopher and mathematician Condorcet is arrested. He is found dead in his cell two days later.

Tags: Condorcet, Enlightenment, French Revolution, Philosopher, Intellectual, Arrest, Death, Reign of Terror, Revolutionary, Guillotine

March 30: Danton, Camille Desmoulins and their supporters arrested.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Danton, Desmoulins, Guillotine, Factionalism, Political Purges, Revolutionary Tribunal, Robespierre, Leadership

April 2: Trial of Danton before the Revolutionary Tribunal. He uses the occasion to ridicule and insult his opponents.

Tags: Danton, Trial, Revolutionary Tribunal, French Revolution, Guillotine, Reign of Terror, Political Intrigue, Accusations, Execution, Jacobins

April 4: The Convention decrees that anyone who insults the justice system is excluded from speaking, barring Danton from defending himself.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, National Convention, Danton, Political Purge, Justice System, Freedom of Speech, Revolutionary Tribunal, Robespierre

April 5: Danton and Desmoulins are convicted and guillotined the same day.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Guillotine, Political Purge, Danton, Desmoulins, Revolutionary Tribunal, Execution, Atrocity

April 8: Robespierre makes accusations against the Convention delegate Joseph Fouché at a meeting of the Jacobins.

Tags: French Revolution, Robespierre, Fouché, Jacobins, Political Intrigue, Reign of Terror, Accusations, Convention, Factionalism, Political Conflict

April 10: The members of the alleged Conspiracy of Luxembourg, a diverse collection of followers of Danton and Hébert and other individuals, are put o...

Tags: Reign of Terror, Executions, Political Purges, French Revolution, Guillotine, Dantonists, Hébertists, Lucile Desmoulins, Show Trial

April 14: At the request of Robespierre, the Convention orders the transfer of the ashes of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to the Panthéon.

Tags: Rousseau, Panthéon, Jacobins, Revolutionary Cult, Enlightenment, Ideology, Commemoration, Robespierre, Cultural Symbolism, Legacy

April 15: A report to the convention by Saint-Just calls from greater centralization of the police under the control of the Committee for Public Safet...

Tags: French Revolution, Committee for Public Safety, Saint-Just, Police, Centralization, Reign of Terror, Political Control, Convention, Government, Security

April 19: By the Treaty of the Hague, between Britain and Prussia, Britain agrees to fund an army of 62,000 Prussian soldiers to continue the war agai...

Tags: War, Prussia, Britain, Funding, Military Aid, Coalition, French Revolutionary Wars, Treaty of The Hague

April 20: In a report to the convention, the deputy Billaud-Varenne delivers a veiled attack against Robespierre: "All people jealous of their liberty...

Tags: French Revolution, Robespierre, Billaud-Varenne, Convention, Political Intrigue, Factionalism, Reign of Terror, Political Criticism, Power Struggle

April 23: Robespierre creates a new Bureau of Police attached to the Committee of Public Safety, in opposition to the existing police under the Commit...

Tags: Robespierre, Committee of Public Safety, Police, Surveillance, French Revolution, Political Intrigue, Jacobins, Committee of General Safety, Power Struggle

May 7: Robespierre asks the convention to decree "that the French people recognize the existence of a Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul", ...

Tags: Robespierre, Cult of the Supreme Being, Deism, French Revolution, Religion, The Terror, Civic Religion, Revolutionary Calendar, Secularism

May 8: The chemist Antoine Lavoisier, along with twenty-six other former members of the Ferme générale, is tried and guillotined

Tags: French Revolution, Guillotine, Science, Chemistry, Lavoisier, Scientific Revolution, Execution, Terror, Ferme générale

May 8: the revolutionary government decided that the Terror would be centralised, with almost all the tribunals in the provinces closed and all the tr...

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Centralization, Justice System, Tribunals, Paris, Political Control, Revolutionary Government, Law

May 10: Execution of Madame Élisabeth, the sister of Louis XVI.

Tags: French Revolution, Guillotine, Terror, Royal Family, Execution, Victim, Louis XVI, Revolutionary Tribunal, Political Violence

May 10: Arrest of Jean Nicolas Pache, the former mayor of Paris, followed by his replacement by Jean-Baptiste Fleuriot-Lescot, a close ally of Robespi...

Tags: French Revolution, Paris, Mayor, Pache, Fleuriot-Lescot, Robespierre, Committee of Public Safety, Reign of Terror, Political Purge

June 2: Naval battle between British and French fleets off Ouessant. The French lose seven warships, but a convoy carrying grain from the United State...

Tags: Naval Battle, British Navy, French Navy, Ouessant, Grain Supply, War of the First Coalition, Maritime Warfare, Brest, Convoy

June 4: Robespierre is unanimously elected president of the convention.

Tags: French Revolution, National Convention, Robespierre, Leadership, Politics, Revolutionary Government, Jacobins, Political Power, Committee of Public Safety

June 8: Festival of the Supreme Being, conducted by Robespierre. Some deputies visibly show annoyance with his behavior at the Festival.

Tags: French Revolution, Robespierre, Cult of the Supreme Being, Festival, Religious Policy, Deism, Republic, Political Opposition, Public Ceremony

June 10: Law of 22 Prairial - As the prisons are full, the Convention speeds up the trials of those accused. Witnesses are no longer required to testi...

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Guillotine, Mass executions, Political repression, Justice system, Prisons, Robespierre, Convention, Atrocity

June 12: Without naming names, Robespierre announces to the Convention that he will demand the heads of "intriguers" who are plotting against the conv...

Tags: Robespierre, Reign of Terror, Convention, Purge, Political Intrigue, Guillotine, Factionalism, Radicalism, French Revolution

June 24: Carnot foresightedly despatched a large part of the Parisian artillery to the front.

Tags: military strategy, artillery, French army, war effort, front lines, Carnot, Paris, logistics, defense, Revolutionary Wars

June 26: French forces under Jourdan defeat the Austrians at the Battle of Fleurus.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Victory, Battle, Fleurus, Austrian Army, Jourdan, First Coalition, Warfare, 18th Century

June 29: Dispute within the Committee of Public Safety. Billaud-Varenne, Carnot and Collot d'Herbois accuse Robespierre of behaving like a dictator. H...

Tags: French Revolution, Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre, Billaud-Varenne, Carnot, Collot d'Herbois, Political Conflict, Factionalism, The Terror, Leadership Crisis

July 1: Robespierre speaks at the Jacobin Club, denouncing a conspiracy against him within the convention, the Committee of Public Safety, and the Com...

Tags: French Revolution, Robespierre, Jacobin Club, Committee of Public Safety, Committee of General Security, Political Intrigue, Reign of Terror, Factionalism, Convention

July 8: French forces under Generals Jourdan and Pichegru capture Brussels from Austrians.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Austrian Netherlands, Jourdan, Pichegru, Brussels, Military Victory, First Coalition War, Expansion

July 9: Robespierre speaks again at the Jacobin Club, denying he has already made lists, and refusing to name those he plans to arrest.

Tags: Robespierre, Jacobin Club, Reign of Terror, Political Intrigue, French Revolution, Public Speech, Accusations, Arrests, Political Discourse

July 14: At the request of Robespierre, Joseph Fouché is expelled from the Jacobin Club.

Tags: Jacobin Club, Robespierre, Fouché, Political Purge, Revolutionary Factions, Terror, Political Intrigue, Factionalism, Power Struggle

July 23: Robespierre attends a meeting of reconciliation with the members of the Committees of Public Safety and General Security, and the dispute see...

Tags: Robespierre, Committees of Public Safety, Committee of General Security, Factionalism, Political Intrigue, French Revolution, Thermidorian Reaction, Power Struggle, Reconciliation, Leadership

July 23: Alexandre de Beauharnais is tried and executed; his widow Joséphine de Beauharnais became Napoleon's mistress, and his wife in 1796.

Tags: French Revolution, Execution, Guillotine, Social Upheaval, Marriage, Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon Bonaparte, Rise of Napoleon, Nobility

July 25: The poet André Chénier is among those guillotined.

Tags: French Revolution, Execution, Guillotine, Poetry, Literature, André Chénier, Terror, Victims of the Terror, Political Repression

July 26: Robespierre gives a violent speech at the convention, demanding, without naming them, the arrest and punishment of "traitors" in the Committe...

Tags: Robespierre, Convention, Speech, Committee of Public Safety, Committee of General Security, Factionalism, Terror, Political Intrigue, Accusations, Thermidorian Reaction

July 27: Marie Thérèse de Choiseul, the princess of Monaco is executed. Her execution would be one of the last during the Reign of Terror.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Execution, Aristocracy, Guillotine, Political Violence, Atrocity, Monaco, Last Executions

July 27: At noon, Saint-Just began his speech in the convention, prepared to blame everything on Billaud, Collot d'Herbois and Carnot. After a few min...

Tags: French Revolution, Thermidorian Reaction, Robespierre, Reign of Terror, Convention, Arrest, Politics, Guillotine, Coup d'état, Factionalism

July 28: At two in the morning, soldiers loyal to the Convention take the Hôtel de Ville without a fight. Robespierre is wounded in the jaw by a gunsh...

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Guillotine, Execution, Robespierre, Saint-Just, Political Purge, Hôtel de Ville, Thermidorian Reaction

July 29: Arrest and execution of seventy allies of Robespierre within the Paris Commune. In all, 106 Robespierrists are guillotined.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Guillotine, Execution, Robespierre, Paris Commune, Political Purge, Atrocity, Violence

August 5: Inmates of Paris prisons arrested under the Law of Suspects are released.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Prison Release, Law of Suspects, Justice, Human Rights, Paris, Incarceration, Social Impact, Guillotine

August 9: Napoléon Bonaparte is arrested in Nice, but released on August 20.

Tags: Napoléon Bonaparte, Arrest, Nice, French Revolutionary Wars, Military, Robespierre, Thermidorian Reaction, Political Intrigue, Early Career

August 24: The Convention reorganizes the government, distributing power among sixteen different committees.

Tags: Convention, Government, Committees, Legislative Branch, Power Distribution, Reorganization, French Revolution, Political Structure, Governance, Administrative Reform

August 29: First anti-Jacobin demonstration in Paris by disaffected young middle-class Parisians called Muscadins.

Tags: Counter-Revolution, Paris, Social unrest, Factions, French Revolution, Muscadins, Youth, Middle Class, Directory, Political opposition

August 30: French army retakes Condé-sur-l'Escaut. All French territory is now freed of foreign occupation.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Warfare, First Coalition, Frontier, Territory, Occupation, Victory, Defense, Military Campaigns

August 31: The Convention puts Paris under the direct control of the national government.

Tags: French Revolution, Paris, National Convention, Centralization, Government Control, Political Power, Revolutionary Government, Jacobins

September 1: The Musée des Monuments français is founded to protect religious architecture and art threatened with destruction.

Tags: French Revolution, Art History, Museum, Preservation, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, Religious Art, Nationalism, Artistic Institutions

September 13: The Abbé Grégoire, a member of the convention, coins the term "vandalism" to describe destruction of religious monuments across France

Tags: French Revolution, Grégoire, Vandalism, Cultural Heritage, Religious Monuments, Destruction, Convention, Revolutionary Terminology, Preservation, Society and Culture

September 18: The Convention stops paying officially sanctioned priests and stops maintaining church properties.

Tags: Religion, Church, State, Secularization, Clergy, Property, French Revolution, Convention, Dechristianization, Anti-clericalism

September 21: The remains of Marat are placed in the Panthéon.

Tags: French Revolution, Marat, Panthéon, Burial, Cult of Personality, Public Image, Jacobins, Political Symbolism, Revolutionary Culture

October 1: Confrontations in the meetings of the Paris sections between supporters and opponents of the Terror.

Tags: Paris Sections, Terror, Factionalism, Political Polarization, Public Opinion, Counter-Revolution, French Revolution, Social Unrest, Debate, Ideology

October 3: Arrest of the leaders of the bands of armed sans-culottes in Paris.

Tags: Sans-culottes, Paris, Arrest, Revolutionary factions, Social unrest, Reign of Terror, Radicalism, Political repression, Social control

October 6: A French army captures Cologne.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaigns, Rhineland, War of the First Coalition, Territorial Expansion, Occupation, Military Strategy, French Army, Cologne

October 22: Foundation of the Central School of Public Works, the future École Polytechnique

Tags: education, engineering, science, technology, military, innovation, French Revolution, republic

November 9: Muscadins attack the Jacobin Club. The attack is repeated on November 11.

Tags: Muscadins, Jacobin Club, Thermidorian Reaction, Counter-Revolution, Political Violence, Social Conflict, Directory, Post-Terror, Elite vs. Populace, Paris

November 12: The Convention orders the suspension of meetings of the Jacobin Club.

Tags: Jacobins, Convention, Political Clubs, Thermidorian Reaction, French Revolution, Political Purges, Revolutionary Government, Factionalism, Suppression, Political Opposition

November 19: Treaty of London between the United States and England calls for joint suppression of French corsairs and a blockade of French ports.

Tags: Treaty, United States, Great Britain, French Corsairs, Blockade, Maritime Warfare, Neutrality, International Relations, Naval Strategy

December 3: The Convention forms a committee of sixteen members to complete work on the Constitution of 1793.

Tags: French Revolution, National Convention, Constitution, 1793, Committee, Government, Politics, Legislature, Law, Drafting

December 8: Seventy-three surviving Girondin deputies are given seats again in the convention.

Tags: French Revolution, Girondins, Convention, Political Rehabilitation, Thermidorian Reaction, Factionalism, Political Purges, Reconciliation, Post-Terror

December 16: Conviction and execution of the Jacobin Carrier for ordering the mass execution of as many as 10.000 prisoners in the Vendée

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Vendée Uprising, Mass Executions, War Crimes, Jacobins, Guillotine, Atrocity, Political Violence, Justice

December 24: The Convention repeals the law setting maximum prices for grain and other food products.

Tags: price controls, grain, food supply, economy, Convention, Thermidorian Reaction, market liberalization, inflation, scarcity

January 19: French army of Pichegru captures Amsterdam.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Military Campaign, Netherlands, Pichegru, Invasion, Batavian Republic, Warfare, Expansionism

January 21: French cavalry capture the Dutch fleet, trapped in the ice at Den Helder.

Tags: military, war, French Revolution, cavalry, navy, Dutch Republic, Den Helder, invasion, winter warfare

February 2: Confrontations between Muscadins and sans-culottes in Paris streets.

Tags: Muscadins, Sans-culottes, Paris, Street violence, Social conflict, Post-Thermidor, French Revolution, Political factions, Fashion, Counter-revolution

February 5: The semi-official government newspaper Le Moniteur Universel condemns the past incitement to violence and terror by Marat and his allies.

Tags: French Revolution, Newspapers, Political Condemnation, Marat, Terror, Post-Terror, Public Opinion, Government, Media, Rehabilitation

February 8: Removal of the remains of Marat and three other extreme Jacobins from the Panthéon.

Tags: Jacobins, Marat, Panthéon, Exhumation, Symbolic Action, Thermidorian Reaction, Political Purge, Public Memory, French Revolution, Social Change

February 14; Several former Jacobin leaders in Lyon, who conducted the Terror there, are assassinated, beginning of the so-called First White Terror.

Tags: White Terror, Counter-Revolution, Jacobins, Lyon, Assassination, Violence, French Revolution, Political Violence, Revenge

February 17: An amnesty granted to former Vendéen rebels, restoring freedom of religion.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Religious Freedom, Amnesty, Counter-Revolution, Catholic Church, Reconciliation, Warfare, Civil War, Politics

February 21: On a proposal by Boissy d'Anglas, the Convention proclaims freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.

Tags: Religious Freedom, Secularism, Church and State, Boissy d'Anglas, Convention, Revolutionary France, Dechristianization, Civil Rights, Enlightenment, Guillotine

February 22: In the convention, the deputy Rovère demands the punishment of Jacobins who carried out the Terror. Former Jacobin leaders in several cit...

Tags: Thermidorian Reaction, White Terror, Jacobins, Revenge, Assassination, Political Violence, French Revolution, Nîmes, Convention

March 2: The Convention orders the arrest of Barère, Billaud-Varenne, Collot d'Herbois and Vadier, the Jacobins who had orchestrated the downfall of R...

Tags: French Revolution, The Convention, Jacobins, Thermidorian Reaction, Purges, Political Arrests, Post-Robespierre, Political Intrigue, Revolutionary Tribunal, Power Struggle

March 5: In Toulon, arrest of the Jacobins who had carried out mass executions of the population.

Tags: French Revolution, Toulon, Jacobins, Mass Executions, Reign of Terror, Repression, Political Violence, Justice, Aftermath

March 8: Riot in Toulon by sans-culottes, who execute seven imprisoned émigrés.

Tags: French Revolution, Toulon, Sans-culottes, Émigrés, Violence, Execution, Reign of Terror, Civil Unrest, Political Violence

March 17: Food riots in Paris.

Tags: Food Shortages, Riots, Bread, Paris, Hunger, Supply Chain, Price Controls, Thermidorian Reaction, Economic Hardship

March 19: Grain supplies in Paris are exhausted. The assignat falls to eight percent of its original value.

Tags: Grain Shortage, Food Crisis, Assignat, Currency Collapse, Economic Hardship, Paris, Inflation, French Revolution, War Economy, 1795

March 21: On a proposal by Sieyès, the Convention votes the death penalty for leaders of movements who try to overthrow the government.

Tags: French Revolution, Convention, Sieyès, Death Penalty, Political Instability, Counter-Revolution, Government, Legislation, Terror, Political Control

March 28: Beginning of the trial of Fouquier-Tinville, the head of the Revolutionary Tribunal, who conducted the trials during the Terror.

Tags: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, Fouquier-Tinville, Revolutionary Tribunal, Trials, Justice, Accountability, Political Repression, Insurrection

April 1: Insurrection of 12 Germinal, Year III. Sans-culottes invade Convention, but leave when the National Guard arrives. Paris is declared in a sta...

Tags: Sans-culottes, Insurrection, Paris, National Guard, State of Siege, Convention, French Revolution, Rebellion, Suppression, Political Instability

April 1: The Convention orders the deportation to French Guiana of Barère, Billaud-Varenne, and Collot d'Herbois, and the arrest of eight extreme-left...

Tags: French Revolution, Thermidorian Reaction, Jacobins, Convention, Deportation, Political Purge, Guiana, Extreme Left, Political Prisoners

April 2: The French army under Pichegru suppresses an armed uprising in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.

Tags: French Army, Pichegru, Uprising, Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Rebellion, Suppression, Military Action, Internal Conflict, Thermidorian Reaction

April 5: Signature of a peace agreement between Prussia and France in Basel. Prussia accepts the French annexation of the left bank of the Rhine.

Tags: French Revolution, Prussia, Basel, Peace Treaty, War of the First Coalition, Annexation, Rhineland, Military Withdrawal, International Relations

April 10: Convention orders the disarmament of Jacobins who were involved in the Terror.

Tags: French Revolution, Thermidorian Reaction, Jacobins, The Terror, Disarmament, Political Purge, Convention, Post-Terror, Political Repression

April 11: The Convention restores civic rights to all citizens declared outside the law since May 31, 1793.

Tags: French Revolution, Convention, Civic Rights, Reconciliation, Political Prisoners, Amnesty, Thermidorian Reaction, Legal Reform, Citizenship

April 19: Assassination of six Jacobins involved in the Terror in Bourg-en-Bresse.

Tags: French Revolution, Terror, Jacobins, Assassination, Bourg-en-Bresse, Counter-Revolution, Violence, Political Violence, Retribution, Local Uprising

April 23: The Convention names a commission of eight members to revise the Constitution.

Tags: French Revolution, Convention, Constitution, Constitutional Revision, Governance, Legislature, Political Reform, Commission

May 2: Agreement of last Vendéen rebels to lay down their arms in exchange for amnesty.

Tags: Vendee, Rebellion, Counter-Revolution, Civil War, Amnesty, Republican Army, Military, Negotiation, French Revolution

May 4: Massacre of twenty-five Jacobins imprisoned in Lyon.

Tags: French Revolution, Lyon, Massacre, Terror, Jacobins, Counter-Revolution, Political Violence, Repression, Prisoners

May 7: The former chief prosecutor, Fouquier-Tinville, and the fourteen jurors of the Revolutionary Tribunal are condemned to death and guillotined.

Tags: Reign of Terror, Guillotine, Executions, Revolutionary Tribunal, Fouquier-Tinville, Justice, Post-Terror, Purge, French Revolution

May 20: Armed uprising against the Convention by Jacobins and sans-culottes. They invade the hall of the convention and kill deputy Féraud. The army r...

Tags: French Revolution, Jacobins, Sans-culottes, Convention, Uprising, Civil Unrest, Armed Conflict, Political Violence, Counter-revolution

May 21: New uprising of Jacobins and sans-culottes in Paris; they occupy the Hôtel de Ville.

Tags: Jacobins, Sans-culottes, Paris, Uprising, Revolution, Hôtel de Ville, 1795, French Revolution, Political Violence, Popular Movement

May 22: Third day of uprising in Paris. The Convention orders the army to occupy the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.

Tags: Paris, Uprising, Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Convention, Army, Suppression, Military Action, Rebellion, French Revolution

May 24: The army secures the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and disarms and arrests the participants in the uprising.

Tags: French Revolution, Uprising, Army, Suppression, Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Military Action, Rebellion, Internal Conflict, Counter-Revolution

May 28: The last Jacobin former members of the Committees of Public Safety and General Security are arrested.

Tags: Jacobins, Committee of Public Safety, Committee of General Security, Thermidorian Reaction, Political Purges, French Revolution, Political Arrests, Post-Terror, Directory, Reign of Terror

May 31: The Convention abolishes the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Tags: French Revolution, Convention, Revolutionary Tribunal, Justice, Law, Guillotine, Reign of Terror, Political Instability, End of Terror

June 8: Death of the 10-year-old Louis XVII imprisoned in the Temple. His uncle in exile, the comte de Provence, inherits the title as Louis XVIII, ki...

Tags: French Revolution, Louis XVII, Succession, Monarchy, Temple Prison, Royal Family, Death, Comte de Provence, Louis XVIII

June 10: The Convention decriminalizes the émigrés who fled France after the Jacobin seizure of power on May 26, 1793.

Tags: French Revolution, Convention, Émigrés, Amnesty, Legal Reform, Thermidorian Reaction, Exile, Political prisoners, Reconciliation

June 12: Deputies who supported the May 20–22 uprising are put on trial.

Tags: Trials, Rebellion, Justice, Political Repression, Post-Thermidorian Reaction, Guillotine, French Revolution, 1795, Political Purges

June 17: Suicide of six deputies condemned to death for participation in the May 20–22 uprising.

Tags: French Revolution, Terror, Political Violence, Suicide, Rebellion, Condemnation, Deputy, Guillotine, Uprising, Aftermath

June 23: The rebels of the Vendée, under Charette, resume their rebellion.

Tags: Vendée, Rebellion, Charette, Counter-Revolution, Civil War, Royalist, Warfare, French Revolution, Military Conflict

June 23: In support of the Chouans, an army of émigrés, under the command of Joseph de Puisaye, landed at Quiberon.

Tags: French Revolution, Counter-Revolution, Chouans, Émigrés, Military Campaign, Brittany, Royalist, Invasion, Quiberon, Puisaye

June 26: An army of four thousand royalist émigrés is landed by the British in the Bay of Carnac in Brittany.

Tags: French Revolution, Counter-Revolution, Royalists, British Intervention, Emigration, Brittany, Military Campaign, Naval Warfare, Internal Conflict

June 30: The royalist army of émigrés in Brittany is defeated in front of Vannes by General Hoche.

Tags: French Revolution, War, Brittany, Royalists, Émigrés, General Hoche, Military Defeat, Counter-Revolution, Vannes

June 30: The Chouans are forced to abandon Auray. The royalist army retreats to the peninsula of Quiberon, where on July 7 they are besieged by Hoche.

Tags: Chouannerie, Royalist, French Revolution, Military Campaign, Hoche, Breton, Quiberon, Civil War, Military Retreat

July 15: Two thousand more royalist émigrés are landed at Quiberon, where they also are trapped by Hoche.

Tags: Quiberon, Royalist, émigrés, Hoche, French Revolution, Vendean Revolt, Military Campaign, Counter-Revolution, Brittany

July 17: The French Army of the Western Pyrenees in Spain under Moncey captures Vitoria-Gasteiz and takes Bilbao on July 19.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaigns, Pyrenees, Spain, Military Conquest, Moncey, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Bilbao, French Army

July 21: The royalist army in Quiberon surrenders. 748 émigrés are executed by firing squad.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Counter-Revolution, Emigres, Royalists, Quiberon, Military Defeat, Executions, Civil War, Terror

July 22: The Peace of Basel is signed between Spain and France. France receives from Spain the western portion of the island of Saint-Dominigue (now t...

Tags: French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Peace Treaty, Spain, France, Military Strategy, Colonialism, Saint-Domingue, Diplomacy

August 9: The Convention orders the arrest of Joseph Fouché and several other Montagnard deputies.

Tags: French Revolution, The Convention, Montagnards, Fouché, Political Purges, Thermidorian Reaction, Political Intrigue, Repression, Deputies, Arrest

August 15: The Convention adopts the Franc as the French monetary unit.

Tags: French Revolution, Currency, Franc, Monetary System, Economy, Convention, Financial Reform, Standardization, Trade

August 22: Constitution of the Year III (Constitution de l'An III), the new Constitution, is adopted by the convention. It calls for an upper and lowe...

Tags: Constitution, Directory, French Revolution, Legislature, Government, Republic, Political Reform, Parliament, Upper House, Lower House

September 23: Approved by a national referendum, the new Constitution comes into effect.

Tags: Constitution, Directory, National Referendum, French Revolution, Government, Politics, Legislation, Voting

October 5: An armed royalist uprising threatens the convention. On the orders of Paul Barras, in charge of the defense of Paris, General Bonaparte lea...

Tags: French Revolution, Royalist Uprising, Bonaparte, Paris, Grapeshot, Military, Defense, Convention, Rebellion

October 12: Beginning of elections to the new chambers of the legislature, the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients.

Tags: French Revolution, Legislature, Council of Five Hundred, Council of Ancients, Elections, Directory, Politics, Government, Voting, Representative bodies

October 12: Montagnard army officers dismissed under the convention are reintegrated into the army.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Army, Montagnards, Officer Corps, Convention, Reinstatement, Political Purges, Military Personnel

October 23: The assignat falls to just three percent of its nominal value. Twenty billion (20,000,000,000) notes in circulation.

Tags: Assignat, Currency, Inflation, Economic Crisis, French Finances, Financial Collapse, Revolutionary Government, Directory, Monetary Policy, Paper Money

October 26: Bonaparte is named commander in chief of the Army of the Interior.

Tags: Napoleon Bonaparte, Army, Military Command, Interior, French Revolution, Political Intrigue, Directory, Paris, Coup

October 31: The first Directory is elected by the legislature; its members are Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, Jean-François Rewbell, Étienne-Fr...

Tags: Directory, Executive Branch, Government Formation, French Revolution, Legislature, Five Directors, Political Transition, Republic, Post-Terror, Power Structure

December 10: The legislature votes a forced loan of six hundred million francs to be taken from the wealthiest French citizens.

Tags: French Revolution, Finances, Taxation, Economic Policy, Forced Loan, Wealth, Legislature, National Convention, Post-Terror

December 26: The daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, Madame Royale, imprisoned in the Temple since August 1792, is exchanged for a group of re...

Tags: Prisoners of War, Royal Family, French Revolution, Exchange, Temple Prison, Austria, International Relations, Negotiations, Humanitarian Act

December 31: Armistice on the Rhine halting combat between the French and Austrian armies.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Rhine, Armistice, Military, Austria, Halt, Combat, Front

January 2: Creation by the Directory of the Ministry of the Police, under Merlin de Douai.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Ministry, Police, Government, Law Enforcement, Merlin de Douai, Security, Centralization

January 21: Commemoration of the anniversary of Louis XVI's execution. Director Rewbell gives a speech denouncing the extremism of the left.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Rewbell, Political Speech, Extremism, Ideology, Commemoration, Louis XVI, Left-wing politics

January 25: The Directory is given the provisional power to name the administrators of cities.

Tags: Directory, Local Government, Administrative Power, Centralization, French Revolution, Cities, Governance, Political Control, Authority

January 26: The royalist and rebel leader Nicolas Stofflet tries to restart the War in the Vendée.

Tags: Vendée, Counter-Revolution, Royalist, Rebellion, Stofflet, Warfare, French Revolution, Civil War

February 2: Wolfe Tone, leader of the Irish revolutionaries, arrives in France, seeking military support to liberate Ireland.

Tags: Irish Revolution, Wolfe Tone, France, Military Support, Rebellion, United Irishmen, Foreign Intervention, Anglo-French Conflict, Military Alliance

February 19: The government stops issuing assignats, which have lost most of their value. Thirty-nine billion (39,000,000,000) are in circulation.

Tags: French Revolution, Assignats, Currency, Inflation, Economic Crisis, Financial Policy, Government Debt, Monetary Policy, Economic Instability, Bankruptcy

February 20: The United States and Britain extend their treaty of November 19, 1794. Relations between France and the United States deteriorate.

Tags: United States, Great Britain, France, Diplomacy, Foreign Relations, Treaty, Neutrality, Jay's Treaty, American Revolution (Impact), French Revolution (Impact)

February 23: The Vendéen rebel and royalist leader Nicolas Stofflet is captured and executed by firing squad in Angers the following day.

Tags: Vendée, Royalist, Rebellion, French Revolution, Execution, Military, Counter-Revolution, Warfare, Angers

February 28: On the orders of the Directory, General Bonaparte closes the extreme leftist Club du Panthéon, founded by a follower of Marat.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Bonaparte, Political repression, Left-wing, Clubs, Political opposition, Marat, Censorship

March 2: The Directory names General Bonaparte the commander of the Army of Italy.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Command, Bonaparte, Army of Italy, Directory, Warfare, Napoleonic Wars (precursor), Military Strategy, Italian Campaign

March 9: Marriage of Napoléon Bonaparte and Joséphine de Beauharnais, the widow of Alexandre de Beauharnais, a French general and political leader gui...

Tags: Marriage, Napoléon Bonaparte, Joséphine de Beauharnais, French Revolution, Social History, Elite, Personal Life, First Empire, Relationships

March 18: The Directory replaces the assignat with two billion four hundred million Mandats territoriaux, which can be used to purchase nationalized p...

Tags: Currency, Inflation, Financial Crisis, Directory, Nationalized Property, Economic Policy, Assignat, Mandats territoriaux, French Revolution

March 23: François de Charette, last leader of the royalist rebellion in Vendée, is captured and executed by firing squad in Nantes.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Royalist Rebellion, Charette, Counter-Revolution, Civil War, Military, Execution, Nantes

March 30: François-Noël Babeuf, known as "Gracchus Babeuf", the ultra-leftist leader and precursor of Communism, forms an insurrectional committee and...

Tags: French Revolution, Radicalism, Communism, Socialism, Equality, Revolutionary Movements, Political Theory, Babeuf, Les Égaux

April 10: Bonaparte begins his Italian campaign with victories over the Austrians at Montenotte (April 12) and the Sardinians at Millesimo (April 13).

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Bonaparte, Italian Campaign, War, Austria, Sardinia, Montenotte, Millesimo, First Coalition

May 2: Babeuf's followers and the remaining Montagnards form a common plan to overthrow the Directory.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Babeuf, Montagnards, Conspiracy, Political Opposition, Overthrow, Radicalism, Revolutionary Factions

May 9: Bonaparte forces an armistice upon the Duke and Duchess of Parma.

Tags: French Revolution, Bonaparte, Italian Campaign, Armistice, Military, Parma, Treaty, War

May 10: Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Lodi.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Warfare, Napoleonic Wars, Italy, Austrians, Bonaparte, Battle, Lodi, Victory

May 15: Treaty signed in Paris between the Directory and king Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia. The king agrees to cede Savoy and Nice to France.

Tags: French Revolution, Treaty, Sardinia, Territorial Expansion, Warfare, Military Strategy, Annexation, Directory, Victor Amadeus III

May 19: In Milan, Bonaparte promises "independence" for Italy.

Tags: Italian Campaign, Bonaparte, French Revolutionary Wars, Milan, Independence, Italy, Military Strategy, Propaganda

May 20: The Austrians renounce the armistice along the Rhine, and the war resumes on that front.

Tags: War, Military, Austrian Empire, Rhine, Armistice, French Revolutionary Wars, Front, Conflict, 1790s

June 4: Bonaparte begins the siege of Mantua, the last Italian city held by Austria.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Napoleonic Wars, Italian Campaign, Siege, Military, Bonaparte, Austria, Mantua, Military Strategy

June 5: Bonaparte signs an armistice with the king of Sicily.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars (precursor), Bonaparte, Sicily, Armistice, Military Agreements, Italian Campaign, Mediterranean, Warfare, Treaty

June 12: Bonaparte's army enters Romagna, one of the Papal States.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Italian Campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte, Papal States, Military Invasion, Territorial Expansion, Warfare, Romagna

June 22: End of the civil war in the west of France, with the submission of Georges Cadoudal and the departure of Louis de Frotté for England.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendée, Chouannerie, Civil War, Royalist, Cadoudal, Frotté, Resistance, Military Defeat, Western France

June 23: Bonaparte signs the Armistice of Bologna with the Holy See, which permits the French occupation of the northern Papal States.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Papal States, Catholic Church, Armistice, Military Occupation, Religious Conflict, Italy, Bonaparte, Concordat

July 9: The Island of Elba is occupied by the British.

Tags: British Navy, Mediterranean, Naval Strategy, Island, Blockade, Military Occupation, French Revolution, War of the First Coalition, Elba

July 10: A new Austrian army under Wurmser arrives in Italy.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Italian Campaign, Austria, Wurmser, Military Strategy, Battles, War, Conflict, Army, Napoleonic Wars (precursor)

July 16: General Kléber captures Frankfurt.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Military Campaigns, Kléber, Frankfurt, German States, Rhine, Army of the Sambre and Meuse, Siege, Territorial Control

July 18: French army under General Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr captures Stuttgart.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, War of the First Coalition, Rhineland, German States, Stuttgart, General Saint-Cyr, Territorial Expansion

July 20: General Hoche is named head of an army to invade Ireland in support of the Irish independence movement.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Ireland, Hoche, Invasion, Independence, Warfare, 18th Century

August 5: Bonaparte defeats the Austrians under Wurmser at the Battle of Castiglione. The Austrian army retreats to the Tyrol.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Warfare, Battle, Castiglione, Napoleon Bonaparte, Austrian Army, Italian Campaign, Strategy, 1790s

August 19: Treaty of alliance signed between France and Spain at San Ildefonso.

Tags: alliance, Spain, military, war, Napoleonic Wars, Treaty of San Ildefonso, French Revolution, foreign policy, coalition, strategy

September 8: Bonaparte defeats the Austrians under Wurmser at the Battle of Bassano.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, War, Battle, Napoleon Bonaparte, Austria, Italian Campaign, Bassano, Wurmser, Victory

September 9: Grenelle camp affair - failed uprising by supporters of Gracchus Babeuf against the French Directory

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Babeuf, Conspiracy, Uprising, Political Violence, Counter-Revolution, Socialism, Radicals, Suppression

October 5: Spain, now allied with France, declares war on Britain.

Tags: War, Franco-Spanish Alliance, Great Britain, Napoleonic Wars, Naval Warfare, Military Conflict, European Powers, French Revolutionary Wars, International Relations

October 10: The thirty-two leaders of the September 9–10 Babeuf uprising are tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to death.

Tags: French Revolution, Babeuf, Uprising, Conspiracy, Military Tribunal, Execution, Rebellion, Suppression, Radicalism, Political Violence

October 16: Bonaparte encourages the proclamation of a Cispadane Republic in northern Italy, composed of Modena and some of the Papal states.

Tags: French Revolution, Bonaparte, Italian Campaign, Republic, Italy, Expansionism, Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Era, Puppet State

November 2: Austria sends two more armies to northern Italy to confront Bonaparte.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, War, Austria, Italy, Bonaparte, Military Strategy, Conflict, Expansionism, Campaign

November 15–17: Decisive victory of Bonaparte over the Austrians at the Battle of Arcole.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Battle, Military Victory, Italy, Austrian Army, General Bonaparte, Army of Italy, First Coalition, Military Campaign

December 4: Abrogation of the harshest parts of the October 25, 1795 laws punishing émigrés and refractory priests.

Tags: French Revolution, Religious Freedom, Emigres, Refractory Priests, Thermidorian Reaction, Religious Persecution, Amnesty, Politics, Decree

December 15–17: Departure from Brest of a fleet carrying a French army commanded by Hoche to invade Ireland.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Ireland, Invasion, Hoche, Fleet, Brest, Naval Operations, Franco-Irish relations

December 24–25: Storms dislocate the French invasion fleet off the coast of Ireland and force it to return to France.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Ireland, Invasion Attempt, Naval Warfare, Storm, Failed Invasion, 18th Century, Atlantic Ocean, War of the First Coalition

January 7: A new Austrian army commanded by General József Alvinczi is sent to fight General Bonaparte in Italy.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Italian Campaign, Austrian Army, General Alvinczi, Napoleon Bonaparte, Military Strategy, Warfare, Conflict

January 14: Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Rivoli.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Battle, Warfare, Napoleonic Wars, Bonaparte, Austria, Rivoli, Italian Campaign, Victory

February 2: Surrender of last Austrian forces in Italy, in Mantua, to Bonaparte.

Tags: Military Victory, Italian Campaign, Napoleonic Wars, Austrian Army, French Republic, Mantua, Military Surrender, Bonaparte, Warfare

February 9: Bonaparte occupies Ancona to force Pope Pius VI to negotiate with him. Negotiations begin February 12.

Tags: Bonaparte, Papal States, Catholic Church, Military Campaign, Negotiations, Italian Campaign, French Revolution, Religious Conflict, Occupation

February 14: Defeat of the Spanish fleet, ally of the French, at the Battle of Cape Saint Vincent.

Tags: Naval Battle, Great Britain, Spain, French Revolutionary Wars, Military Defeat, Atlantic Ocean, War at Sea, 18th Century, Alliances

February 19: Pius VI cedes Comtat Venaissin and the northern portion of the Italian papal states to the new Cispadane Republic.

Tags: Papal States, Pius VI, Cispadane Republic, Territorial Loss, Napoleonic Wars, Secularization, Italian Peninsula, Revolutionary France, Church and State

February 20: Beginning of the trial of Babeuf and his leading followers at the High Court of Justice in Vendôme.

Tags: French Revolution, Vendôme, Babeuf, Conspiracy of Equals, Radicalism, Revolutionary Trials, Political Trials, Socialism, High Court of Justice

March 2: The Directory authorizes French warships to capture U.S. ships, in retaliation for the British-US treaty of February 20, 1796.

Tags: Franco-American relations, Naval warfare, French Directory, US neutrality, Quasi-War, Maritime conflict, Trade war, Retaliation

March 9: Bonaparte begins a new offensive in Italy against the army of the Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Italian Campaign, Napoleonic Wars (precursor), Bonaparte, Archduke Charles, Military Offensive, Battle, Military Strategy, Habsburg Austria

March 18: French voters are required to take an oath of fidelity to the government before voting on April 18.

Tags: French Revolution, Voting Rights, Elections, Oath, Government, Fidelity, Political Control, Directory

April 7: After a series of victories by Bonaparte, the Austrians agree to negotiate.

Tags: Napoleonic Wars, First Coalition, Austria, Military Campaigns, Bonaparte, Negotiations, Warfare, Treaties

April 18: Results of partial elections for the legislature. 205 of the 216 deputies running are defeated, and many are replaced by royalists.

Tags: French Revolution, Legislature, Elections, Royalists, Political Instability, Directory, Counter-Revolution, Political Power

April 18: Preliminary Treaty of Leoben; Austria gives up its claim to the Austrian Netherlands ("Belgian Provinces"); a secret agreement divides the t...

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Treaty, Austria, Belgium, Military Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Napoleon Bonaparte, War of the First Coalition, Cession

April 27: Massacre of anti-French insurgents in Verona by French army.

Tags: French Revolution, Verona, Italian Campaign, Military Atrocity, Insurrection, Suppression, Napoleonic Wars, Military Conflict

April 30: The Directory ratifies the Treaty of Leoben.

Tags: Treaty, Austria, Military, France, Diplomacy, First Coalition, War, Napoleon Bonaparte, Directory

May 2: Bonaparte declares war on Venice.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Bonaparte, Venice, Italian Campaign, War, Military, Expansionism, Treaty of Campo Formio, Conquest

May 12: Revolutionaries overthrow the government council (Patriciate) of Venice.

Tags: Venice, Republic, Revolution, French Revolutionary Wars, Patriciate, Overthrow, Italian Peninsula, Napoleonic Era, Political upheaval

May 16: Bonaparte begins negotiations with the Doge of Venice, Ludovico Manin.

Tags: Napoleon Bonaparte, Italian Campaign, Venice, Diplomacy, Treaty Negotiations, Military Strategy, French Directory, First Coalition Wars, Republic of Venice

May 20: New session of the French legislature begins. The royalist Pichegru is chosen president of the Council of Five Hundred, and another royalist, ...

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Legislature, Council of Five Hundred, Council of Ancients, Royalists, Politics, Elections, Pichegru, Barbé-Marbois

May 20: A drawing of lots removes the moderate republican Étienne-François Letourneur. He is replaced by the royalist diplomat François Barthélemy on ...

Tags: Directory, Elections, Lottery, Political Intrigue, Royalists, Moderates, French Revolution, Government, Legislative Branch

May 26: The political agitator Babeuf and one supporter, Darthé, are sentenced to death. They are executed in Vendôme on May 27.

Tags: French Revolution, Execution, Political Trials, Conspiracy, Vendée, Babeuf, Darthé, Radicalism, Rebellion, Repression

June 4: First meeting of the Cercle Constitutionnel, a club of prominent moderate republican deputies. Its leaders include Sieyès, Talleyrand, and Gar...

Tags: French Revolution, Political Clubs, Moderate Republicans, Sieyès, Talleyrand, Garat, Directory, Political Factions, Ideology, Constitution

June 14: Bonaparte installs a new government in Genoa, with the aim of creating a new Ligurian Republic.

Tags: French Revolution, Bonaparte, Genoa, Ligurian Republic, Italian Campaign, Republic, Politics, Territorial Control, Satellite State, Expansionism

June 24: The Director Paul Barras contacts General Hoche, seeking support for a coup d'état against the royalist majority in the two Councils.

Tags: Directory, Paul Barras, General Hoche, Coup d'état, Royalists, Political Intrigue, Military Involvement, French Politics, 1797

June 27: The royalist majority in the Councils repeals the law of October 25, 1795, which added punishments against refractory priests and émigrés.

Tags: French Revolution, Religion, Catholic Church, Refractory Priests, Émigrés, Legislative Action, Counter-Revolution, Religious Freedom, Politics

June 28: French troops land on Corfu, previously owned by Venice.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Mediterranean, Corfu, Venice, Occupation, Territorial Expansion, Napoleonic Era (Precursor)

June 28: General Hoche sends 15,000 soldiers from the Rhine to Brest via Paris, on the pretext of planning an invasion of Ireland.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Strategy, Army of the Rhine, General Hoche, Brest, Ireland, Invasion Plans, Military Logistics, Directory

July 3: Talleyrand proposes a French expedition against Egypt.

Tags: Egypt, Talleyrand, Napoleon, French Empire, Colonialism, Military Strategy, Expansionism, Mediterranean, French Directory

July 9: The French support the formation of the Cisalpine Republic, composed of the former Cispadane Republic and Lombardy.

Tags: French Revolution, Italian Campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte, Republic, Expansionism, Territorial Changes, Political Alliances, Cisalpine Republic, Italy

July 16: Conflict within the Directory between Barthélemy and Carnot, favorable to the monarchists, and the three pro-republican directors, Barras, La...

Tags: Directory, Political Conflict, Power Struggle, Factionalism, Monarchists, Republicans, Government, Internal Affairs, France, French Revolution

July 17: The army of Hoche arrives within three leagues (see also: Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution) of Paris, a violation ...

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Hoche, Military, Army, Paris, Constitution, Royalists, Political Crisis, Coup

July 20: Barras produces evidence that General Pichegru was in secret correspondence with Louis XVIII and the monarchists. Carnot joins sides with the...

Tags: Directory, Political Intrigue, Conspiracy, Royalists, General Pichegru, Barras, Carnot, Republicanism, French Army, Counter-Revolution

July 25: The Councils vote a law forbidding political clubs, including the republican Cercle Constitutionnel.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Political Clubs, Cercle Constitutionnel, Suppression, Freedom of Assembly, Republicanism, Political Repression, Post-Thermidorian Reaction

July 27: Bonaparte sends General Augereau to Paris as military commander of the city, to support a coup d'état against the royalists.

Tags: Bonaparte, Coup d'état, Military Intervention, Augereau, Paris, Directory, Royalists, French Army, Political Violence

August 16: Bonaparte writes to the Directory, proposing a military intervention in Egypt "to truly destroy England".

Tags: Napoleon Bonaparte, Directory, Egyptian Campaign, Military Strategy, French Navy, British Empire, Colonialism, Imperialism, War of the Second Coalition

September 4: Coup d'état of 18 Fructidor against the royalists in the legislature. Augereau arrests Barthélemy, Pichegru, and the leading royalist dep...

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Coup d'état, Political Purge, Royalists, Barthélemy, Pichegru, Augereau, Legislature, Instability

September 5: The Directory forces the Councils to adopt new laws annulling the elections of 200 royalist deputies in 53 departments, and deporting 65 ...

Tags: Directory, Royalists, Elections, Purge, Deportation, Political Repression, French Revolution, Politics, Council, Government

September 8: Election of two new republican directors, Merlin de Douai and François de Neufchâteau, to replace Carnot and Barthélemy.

Tags: Directory, French Revolution, Politics, Elections, Directors, Merlin de Douai, Neufchâteau, Government, Political maneuvering

September 23: General Augereau, who carried out the September 4 coup, is named commander of the new Army of the Rhine.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Army of the Rhine, General Augereau, Coup d'état, Military Command, Warfare, French Directory

September 29: Directory instructs Bonaparte to win major concessions in negotiations with Austria, and, in the event of refusal, to march on Vienna.

Tags: Bonaparte, Directory, Austria, Negotiations, Military Strategy, French Revolutionary Wars, Diplomacy, Threat of Force, Expansionism

October 17: Signature of peace between Austria and France in the Treaty of Campo Formio. Austria obtains Venice and its possessions, while France rec...

Tags: Treaty, Peace Treaty, France, Austria, French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars (precursor), Territorial Changes, Belgium, Venice, Rhineland

December 21: Bonaparte meets with the Irish leader Wolfe Tone to discuss a future French landing in Ireland.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Ireland, Bonaparte, Wolfe Tone, Military Planning, Invasion, Republicanism, Franco-Irish Alliance

December 28: Anti-French riots in Rome, and murder of a French general, Mathurin-Léonard Duphot.

Tags: French Revolution, Rome, Italy, Anti-French sentiment, Military conflict, General Duphot, Riots, Violence, Expansionism, Napoleonic Wars (foreshadowing)

December 29: Pope Pius VI apologizes to France for the Rome riots; apologies are rejected by the Directory.

Tags: Religion, Catholic Church, Papacy, French Directory, Rome Riots, Diplomacy, Political Tension, Religious Conflict, France, Italy

January 5: The French legislature passes a law authorizing a loan of eighty million francs to prepare an invasion of England.

Tags: French Revolution, War, Military, Invasion, England, Finance, Loan, Napoleonic Wars, Military Spending

January 11: The Directory orders General Berthier and his army to march on Rome to punish the papal government for the murder of General Duphot.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Papal States, General Berthier, Rome, Italian Campaign, Directory, War, Expansionism, Conflict

January 12: Bonaparte presents a plan for an invasion of England to the Directory.

Tags: Napoleon Bonaparte, Directory, French Revolutionary Wars, Invasion of England, Military Strategy, War Planning, Continental Europe, Great Britain, 18th Century

January 18: The legislature authorizes French ships to seize neutral ships carrying British merchandise.

Tags: Trade, Maritime, Neutral Ships, British Merchandise, Warfare, Economic Warfare, French Republic, Napoleonic Wars, Blockade, Commerce

January 24: The Vaud region of Switzerland, with French support, declares independence from the Swiss government in Bern.

Tags: Swiss Confederation, Vaud, Independence, French Intervention, Revolutionary France, Annexation, Territorial Disputes, Helvetic Republic, Canton, Political Instability

January 26: The Directory authorizes French troops to intervene on behalf of the Swiss uprising in Vaud against the Swiss government.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Swiss Confederation, Vaud, Military Intervention, Expansionism, European Politics, Warfare, Foreign Policy, Armed Conflict

February 10: Berthier and his army enter Rome.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Military Invasion, Rome, Berthier, Papal States, Italy, Expansion, Conflict, Republicanism

February 14: Talleyrand presents to the Directory a project for a French conquest of Egypt.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Talleyrand, Egypt, Military Strategy, Expansionism, Colonialism, Napoleonic Wars (foreshadowed)

February 15: General Berthier, in Rome, proclaims a new Roman Republic, under French protection.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Italian Campaign, Roman Republic, General Berthier, French Expansion, Napoleonic Era, Military Occupation, Republic, Political Instability

February 23: Bonaparte recommends to the Directory the abandonment of the invasion of England, and an invasion of Egypt instead.

Tags: Napoleon Bonaparte, Directory, Military Strategy, Egypt, Invasion Plans, French Revolutionary Wars, Mediterranean, Colonialism

March 5: The Directory approves Bonaparte's plan to invade Egypt.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, Egyptian Campaign, The Directory, Military Strategy, Imperialism, Colonialism, Mediterranean, Warfare

March 6: The French army captures Bern.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaigns, Switzerland, Invasion, Bern, Expansionism, Napoleonic Wars (Precursor), Republicanism

March 9: The Parliament of German states, meeting in Rastadt, accepts the annexation of the left bank of the Rhine by France.

Tags: French Revolution, Rastatt, Annexation, Rhineland, German States, Territorial Expansion, War of the First Coalition, International Relations, Diplomacy

March 22: Under the sponsorship of General Brune, an assembly in Aarau proclaims a Helvetic Republic.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Helvetic Republic, Switzerland, Aarau, General Brune, Republic, French influence, Revolution, Napoleonic Era

April 4: Following the French model, the new Helvetic Republic declares itself a secular republic.

Tags: Secularism, Republic, Helvetic Republic, Religious Freedom, French Revolution (Influence), Enlightenment, Switzerland, Government Reform, Centralization

April 9–18: Elections for one-third of the seats in the French legislature.

Tags: elections, legislature, French Revolution, politics, government, Directory, representation, France, political process

April 26: The Traité de Réunion formally unites the Republic of Geneva (fr) with the French Republic.

Tags: French Revolution, Expansion, Territorial Acquisition, Geneva, Republic of Geneva, Treaty, Annexation, French Republic, Political Consolidation

May 7: A report to the Council of Five Hundred declares that the French elections were irregular, and recommends exclusion of candidates of the far le...

Tags: French Revolution, Council of Five Hundred, Elections, Political Purge, Left-Wing, Directory, Political Intrigue, Irregular Elections, France

May 11: By the Law of 22 Floréal Year VI, the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred invalidate the election of 106 Jacobin deputies.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Politics, Legislative Action, Purge, Jacobins, Elections, Political Instability, Coup

May 15: Jean Baptiste Treilhard is elected to the Directory in place of François de Neufchâteau.

Tags: Directory, Government, Politics, Executive Power, French Revolution, Council of Five Hundred, Legislature, Elections, Political Intrigue, Power Struggle

May 19: Bonaparte and his Armée d'Orient set sail from Toulon for Egypt.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte, Egypt, Mediterranean, Armée d'Orient, Imperialism, Naval Warfare, Toulon

May 23: Anti-British uprising begins in Ireland; the Irish rebels believe that Bonaparte is sailing to Ireland.

Tags: Ireland, Rebellion, United Irishmen, Anti-British, Bonaparte, French Revolution, Warfare, Insurgency, Military, 18th Century

June 9–11: Bonaparte invades and captures Malta.

Tags: Military Campaign, Mediterranean, Napoleon Bonaparte, Siege, French Navy, Strategic Importance, Island Conquest, 18th Century

July 1–2: Bonaparte lands in Egypt and captures Alexandria.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Egyptian Campaign, Military Conquest, Naval Power, Colonialism, Mediterranean, North Africa, Bonaparte

July 14: Irish uprising suppressed by the British army.

Tags: Ireland, British Army, Rebellion, Suppression, United Irishmen, 1798 Rebellion, Military Conflict, Insurgency, Counter-insurgency, Politics of Ireland

July 21: Bonaparte defeats the Mameluks at the Battle of the Pyramids.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte, Battle, Egypt, Mameluks, Colonialism, Military Strategy, Early Republic

July 24: Bonaparte and his army enter Cairo.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Egypt, Cairo, Military Campaign, Bonaparte, Invasion, Occupation, Middle East

August 1: Admiral Nelson and the British fleet destroy the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, stranding Bonaparte in Egypt.

Tags: Battle, Naval Warfare, British Navy, French Navy, Nelson, Egypt, Bonaparte, Mediterranean, Strategic Impact, Military Defeat

August 6: A French fleet and expeditionary force sails for Ireland to aid the Irish rebels, though the rebellion is already defeated.

Tags: French Revolution, Ireland, Rebellion, Military Intervention, Naval Operations, Failed Expedition, Franco-Irish Relations, 1798

August 22: French troops under General Humbert land at Killala, in northwest Ireland.

Tags: French Revolution, Ireland, Invasion, United Irishmen, Humbert, Killala, Military Campaign, Rebellion, Napoleonic Wars (Prelude)

August 27: General Humbert defeats a British force at the Battle of Castlebar, and declares an Irish republic.

Tags: Irish Rebellion, Battle of Castlebar, French Revolutionary Wars, Humbert, Republic, Ireland, Great Britain, Military Campaign, Invasion

September 2: Suppression of a royalist revolt in the south of the Massif Central in France and the arrest of its leaders.

Tags: French Revolution, Counter-Revolution, Royalists, Rebellion, Suppression, Massif Central, Military, Political Violence, Internal Conflict

September 5: The Jourdan law requires all French men between twenty and twenty-five to perform military service.

Tags: conscription, military, army, levée en masse, French Republic, military service, Jourdan Law, war, Revolutionary Wars

September 9: The forces of General Humbert are surrounded by the British army at the Battle of Ballinamuck and forced to surrender.

Tags: French Revolution, Ireland, United Kingdom, Invasion, Rebellion, Military Defeat, Battle, Humbert, Ballinamuck, Surrender

September 16: A new French expeditionary force sails from Brest to Ireland.

Tags: French Revolution, Ireland, Military Expedition, Brest, United Irishmen, Warfare, Naval, 18th Century, Rebellion

September 24: The French government calls 200,000 men for military service.

Tags: conscription, military, army, war effort, French Republic, Revolutionary Wars, mobilization, national defense, military recruitment

October 8: François de Neufchâteau, Minister of the Interior, creates the first Higher Council on Public Education.

Tags: Education, Council, Public Education, Ministry of the Interior, Institutions, Governance, Neufchâteau, Cultural Development, French Revolution, 18th Century

October 11: French fleet and expeditionary force defeated off coast of Ireland; six of eight warships captured.

Tags: French Revolution, Naval Warfare, Ireland, Military Defeat, United Irishmen, British Navy, Expedition, War of the Second Coalition

October 12: Belgian peasants rebel against obligatory service in French army.

Tags: Belgium, French Revolution, Conscription, Rebellion, Military, Peasantry, Resistance, 1798, French Army, Napoleonic Era

October 21: Population of Cairo rebels against French occupation. Rebellion suppressed by Bonaparte on October 22.

Tags: French Revolution, Egypt, Cairo, Bonaparte, Occupation, Rebellion, Military Action, Suppression, Napoleonic Wars, North Africa

November 4: Directory orders deportation of Belgian priests, blamed for peasant uprising.

Tags: Religious Persecution, Belgium, Directory, Clergy, Deportation, Peasant Uprising, Counter-Revolution, French Revolution, Religious Conflict

November 5: A Russian-Turkish fleet blockades Corfu occupied by the French army.

Tags: Naval Warfare, Blockade, French Revolutionary Wars, Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire, Adriatic Sea, Corfu, Mediterranean, Military Campaign

November 16: Austria and England agree to cooperate to force France back to its 1789 boundaries.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Coalition, Austria, England, Military Strategy, Intervention, Territorial Disputes, Diplomacy, War Plans, 1789 Boundaries

November 23–24: Directory, desperate for money, imposes new real estate tax and additional taxes based on number of doors and windows.

Tags: taxation, Directory, fiscal policy, real estate, revenue, economic crisis, French Revolution, government finance, property tax, financial instability

November 27: The army of the King of Naples captures Rome.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Italian Campaign, Kingdom of Naples, Rome, Military Occupation, Warfare, Napoleonic Wars, Papal States

December 4: French troops defeat Belgian rebels at Hasselt and massacre insurgents. End of peasant uprising in Belgium.

Tags: French Revolution, Belgium, Rebellion, Military, Suppression, Insurgency, Hasselt, Massacre, Warfare, 18th Century

December 6: French army under Jean Étienne Championnet defeats the army of the King of Naples and his wife at Battle of Civita Castellana.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaigns, Italian Campaign, Naples, Jean Étienne Championnet, Battle, Warfare, Expansion, Revolutionary Wars

December 14: French army under Championnet recaptures Rome.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Italian Campaign, Rome, Championnet, Republic, War, Conflict

December 21: French army attacks Naples and forces King of Naples to take sanctuary on the flagship of Admiral Nelson.

Tags: French Revolution, Naples, Italian Campaign, Military Campaign, King Ferdinand IV, Admiral Nelson, Exile, French Army, Invasion

December 29: Alliance (Second Coalition) between Russia, Britain and the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily against France signed.

Tags: French Revolution, Coalition Wars, Second Coalition, Great Britain, Russia, Kingdom of Naples, Military Alliances, Anti-French Alliance, European Politics, Warfare

January 10: The army of General Championnet captures Capua.

Tags: military, French Army, Napoleonic Wars, Italian Campaign, Capua, General Championnet, war, invasion

January 23: French army occupies Naples

Tags: French Revolution, Naples, Italian Campaign, Military Campaign, Occupation, Warfare, Napoleonic Wars (precursor)

January 26: Proclamation of a new republic in Naples, named Parthénopéenne by the Directory

Tags: Naples, Italian Campaign, French Revolution, Republic, Directory, Parthenopean Republic, Revolutionary Wars, Political Instability, Expansionism, Puppet State

February 1: Victory of General Louis Desaix over the Mameluks at Aswan completes the French conquest of upper Egypt.

Tags: Military Campaign, Egyptian Campaign, General Desaix, Mameluks, French Conquest, North Africa, Military Victory, Napoleon, Expansionism

February 3: Conflict between Generals Championnet and Faipoult over the command of French troops in Naples.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Command, Naples, Italian Campaign, Generals, Internal Conflict, Military Strategy, Disagreements

February 6: Championnet orders the expulsion of Faipoult from Naples.

Tags: French Republic, Naples, General Championnet, Italian Campaign, Expulsion, Military Command, Political Intrigue, French Revolutionary Wars, Parthenopean Republic, Military Orders

February 20: Bonaparte marches his army from Cairo toward Syria.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Military Campaign, Syria, Egypt, Bonaparte, Middle East, Ottoman Empire, Invasion

February 20: Bonaparte defeats a Turkish army and occupies Arish in the Sinai Peninsula.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Napoleonic Wars, Egypt, Sinai Peninsula, Bonaparte, Ottoman Empire, Siege, Warfare, Middle East

February 24: General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan assembles the Army of the Danube and prepares to cross the Rhine and invade German states and Austria.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Rhineland, Army of the Danube, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, War of the Second Coalition, Austrian Netherlands, Invasion

February 24: The Directory orders the arrest of General Championnet.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Military, General, Arrest, Political Intrigue, Championnet, War, Internal Conflict

March 1–2: French armies under Jourdan and Bernadotte cross the Rhine.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the Second Coalition, Rhine, Military Campaign, Jourdan, Bernadotte, Invasion, Military Strategy, Territorial Expansion

March 3: French troops in Corfu surrender, after a long siege by a Russian-Turkish fleet.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaigns, Siege, Corfu, Mediterranean, Russo-Turkish Alliance, Napoleonic Wars (precursor)

March 7: Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine. Some of his soldiers are infected with the plague.

Tags: French Revolution, Bonaparte, Military Campaign, Middle East, Siege, Plague, Disease, Jaffa, Egypt, Napoleonic Wars

March 11: Bonaparte visits the hospital for plague victims in Jaffa.

Tags: Military Leadership, Napoleonic Wars, Middle East, Disease, Medical History, Siege of Jaffa, French Campaign in Egypt, Public Health, Leadership, Morale

March 12: The Directory declares war on Austria and on the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, War, Austria, Tuscany, Military Campaigns, European Conflicts, Expansionism, First Coalition, Napoleonic Wars (precursor)

March 19: Bonaparte lays siege to Saint-Jean-d'Acre in Palestine.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Napoleonic Wars, Middle East, Siege, Palestine, Bonaparte, Ottoman Empire, Acre

March 21: French troops enter the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Tags: French Revolution, War of the Second Coalition, Italian Campaign, Tuscany, Military Occupation, Expansionism, Napoleonic Wars (Precursor), Italian Peninsula

March 23: Army of General Massena defeated by Austrians at Battle of Feldkirch.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, Warfare, Austrian Army, Massena, Feldkirch, Defeat, Battle

March 25: Defeat of Jourdan by Austrians at Battle of Stockach.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Military Defeat, Austrian Army, Battle of Stockach, General Jourdan, Second Coalition, 1790s, Warfare, Campaign

March 28: Bonaparte tries unsuccessfully to capture Saint-Jean-d'Acre.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Military Campaign, Siege, Acre, Bonaparte, Middle East, Levant, Egypt

April 1: Bonaparte fails again to take Saint-Jean-d'Acre.

Tags: Military Campaign, Napoleonic Wars, Siege Warfare, Middle East, Ottoman Empire, French Army, Bonaparte, Syria, Acre

April 3: Jourdan resigns as commander of the Army of the Danube. His army pulls back to the west bank of the Rhine on April 6.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Military Campaign, Army of the Danube, General Jourdan, Rhine, Defeat, Withdrawal, Military Strategy, French Army

April 9: Beginning of legislative elections to replace one-third of members.

Tags: elections, legislature, Directory, government, political reform, French Revolution, deputies, politics, voting, republic

April 10: Pope Pius VI, a prisoner of the French, is transferred to France.

Tags: Catholic Church, Papacy, French Republic, Religious Persecution, Political Prisoners, Anti-clericalism, Revolutionary France, Italian Campaign, Imprisonment

April 14: The Austrian army of Melas and the Russian army of Alexander Suvorov join in Italy.

Tags: Military Alliance, Italy, Austrian Army, Russian Army, Suvorov, Melas, Second Coalition, War of the Second Coalition, Campaigns

April 16: Bonaparte defeats the Ottoman army led by Abdullah Pasha al-Azm at the Battle of Mount Tabor.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Bonaparte, Ottoman Empire, Middle East, Battle, Military Victory, Egypt, Levant

April 18: 1799 French legislative election results in a major loss for supporters of the government, and a victory for the extreme left.

Tags: French Revolution, Elections, Legislative Assembly, Politics, Left-wing, Government Opposition, Political Instability, Directory

April 24: Bonaparte fails a third time to capture Saint-Jean-d'Acre.

Tags: Military Campaign, Siege, Bonaparte, Napoleonic Wars, Levant, Ottoman Empire, Failed Assault, French Army, Middle East

April 27: Alexander Suvorov's Russo-Austrian army defeats French forces under General Moreau at the Battle of Cassano.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Military Conflict, Italy, Austrian Empire, Russian Empire, General Moreau, General Suvorov, Battle, 18th Century Warfare, Military Strategy

April 29: Suvorov enters Milan.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Warfare, Military Campaign, Italian Campaign, Suvorov, Russia, Milan, Republics, Napoleonic Era, Allied Forces

May 1: Bonaparte fails for a fourth time to capture Saint-Jean-d'Acre.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars, Siege, Military Campaign, Middle East, Ottoman Empire, Acre, Bonaparte, Failed Attack

May 10: Fifth and last attempt by Bonaparte to capture Saint-Jean-d'Acre. He lifts the siege on May 17.

Tags: Military Campaign, Siege, Napoleonic Wars, Bonaparte, Middle East, Ottoman Empire, Military Defeat, French Army, Acre

May 16: As the result of the system of drawing lots, Rewbell leaves the Directory and is replaced by Sieyès, who is seen as a moderate leftist.

Tags: Directory, Sieyès, Rewbell, French Revolution, Politics, Government, Moderate Left, Leadership Change, 1799

May 19: An English fleet lands soldiers at Ostend in Belgium. The expedition fails, and withdraws the following day.

Tags: British, Invasion, Belgium, Ostend, Military, Failed Expedition, Napoleonic Wars, French Revolutionary Wars

May 26: Russo-Austrian army enters Turin.

Tags: French Revolutionary Wars, Second Coalition, Italian Campaign, Siege, Russo-Austrian Alliance, Piedmont, Turin, Military Occupation, War

June 4–6: Masséna is forced to withdraw his forces from Zürich.

Tags: military, warfare, French Revolutionary Wars, Switzerland, Zürich, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, Masséna, retreat, campaign

June 14: Bonaparte returns to Cairo.

Tags: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Egyptian Campaign, Bonaparte, Military Strategy, Middle East, North Africa, Military Presence, French Army, Cairo

June 16: A serious struggle begins between the newly elected left-wing members of the Council of Five Hundred and the Directory, due to the string of ...

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Council of Five Hundred, Military Defeats, Public Safety, Political Instability, Legislature, War, Internal Politics, Reforms

June 17: The Council of Five Hundred and Council of the Ancients annul the election of Jean Baptiste Treilhard to the Directory and replace him with a...

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Council of Five Hundred, Council of the Ancients, Political Maneuvering, Government, Leftist, Election Annulment, Gohier

June 18–19: Two royalist members of the Directory, Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai and La Révellière-Lépeaux, are forced to resign, under threat of b...

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Coup, Political Purge, Government, Royalists, Leftists, Political Instability, Power Struggle

June 19: A French army under Étienne Macdonald is defeated by the Russians under Suvorov at the Battle of the Trebia.

Tags: French Revolution, Military, War, Battle, Trebia, Étienne Macdonald, Suvorov, Russian Empire, Coalition Wars, Italian Campaign

June 19: Another reversal in Italy: the French garrison of Naples surrenders.

Tags: French Revolution, Naples, Italy, War of the Second Coalition, Military Defeat, Surrender, Garrison, Neapolitan Republic

June 28: The Council votes to demand a forced loan of one hundred million francs from wealthy citizens to equip new armies.

Tags: French Revolution, Finances, War Economy, Forced Loan, Taxation, Council, Wealthy Citizens, Military Expenditure, Economic Policy

July 5: Two commanders with neo-Jacobin sympathies are promoted by the Directory: Joubert is named new commander of the Army of Italy, and Championnet...

Tags: military, army, commanders, Directory, France, French Revolution, Joubert, Championnet, Italian Campaign, Army of the Alps

July 7: A neo-Jacobin club, the Société des amis de la Liberté et de l'Égalité ("Society of the Friends of Liberty and Equality"), is founded in Paris...

Tags: Jacobins, Clubs, Political Clubs, Paris, French Revolution, Society, Equality, Liberty, Ideology

July 12: The Council of Five Hundred votes a new law on hostages, demands lists of royalists be made in each department, and brings accusations agains...

Tags: French Revolution, Council of Five Hundred, Hostage Law, Royalists, Political Purge, Directory, Political Intrigue, Legislature, Departmental Lists, Government

July 14: At a celebration of the anniversary of the Revolution, General Jourdan calls "bringing back the pikes", the weapons of the Jacobin street mob...

Tags: French Revolution, Directory, Jacobins, Pikes, General Jourdan, Siéyès, Political Polarization, Anniversary Celebration, Terror (historical), Factionalism

July 17: An Ottoman army under the command of Seid Mustafa Pasha, transported to Egypt by Sidney Smith's British fleet, lands at Abukir.

Tags: Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Military Campaign, Siege, Abukir, British Navy, Napoleonic Wars, French Revolutionary Wars, Middle East

July 25: Bonaparte defeats Seid Mustafa Pasha's Ottoman army at the Battle of Abukir.

Tags: French Revolution, Military Campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte, Battle, Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Naval Battle, Siege, Warfare

August 6: Royalist uprisings in Toulouse and Bordeaux. Both are quickly suppressed by the army.

Tags: Royalist, Uprising, Counter-Revolution, Military, Suppression, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Army, Internal Conflict, French Revolution